Black gold – a Prestonpans mining poem

This week as we look to celebrate the birthday of the national bard, Robert Burns, we have chosen to read and discuss a poem called Black Gold. This poem was written by Prestoungrange Poet Laureate, John Lindsay, to mark Burn’s Night 2006.

It can be read again at home with your child by clicking on the link above.

In class we have talked about the following thoughts and ideas having read the poem:

• mining is/was a very dirty job
• miners work hard – they get very sweaty!
• mining is/was a dangerous job – the poem speaks about death
• miners are like brothers – with jokes and fun at lunchtime
• miners work hard because their fathers worked hard too
• coal is called black gold because it is important and precious evern if it is dirty and dusty