Admirers of Burns' famous poem My Heart's in the Highlands didn't get too hung up on where exactly his heart was, they just enjoyed this beautiful tribute to a region that meant so much to him.
When you visit the Highlands, you'll quickly understand why Burns felt inspired - it's hard not to fall in love with the drama and atmosphere created by the wild scenery of this area.
As you can see from the middle verses, Burns subscribed to both the geographic and the historic definitions of the Highlands:
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth ;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains, high-cover'd with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
-- Robert Burns, 1789