Which Scottish Romantic poet wrote 'Tam o' Shanter'?

The Scottish Romantic poet who wrote “Tam o’ Shanter” was Robert Burns.

Burns wrote the narrative poem in 1790 while living in Dumfries. It follows Tam, a farmer who drinks late into the night in Ayr and rides home through a storm on his mare, Meg. At Alloway Kirk, he discovers witches, warlocks, and the Devil holding a supernatural revel.

The poem blends Scots and English and is built around vivid comic horror. Tam escapes when the creatures chase him, but the witches cannot cross running water. One witch, Nannie, reaches for Meg’s tail just before the horse crosses the bridge, leaving the animal permanently short-tailed.

The title character is sometimes confused with a historical person, but Tam is a fictional creation. The poem first appeared in 1791 in the second volume of Francis Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland, accompanied by an illustration of Alloway Kirk.