Dick is not comparing like for like in his post of 28 Jan 25 - 09:55 AM.
In the full version of Auld Lang Syne Burns writes about two old pals meeting up after decades apart and sets it to an appropiately gentle tune; not the anthemic melody that it is sung to today. Burns had never suffered anthing like the horrors of the first World War that was then fresh in the minds of all the readers that Hardy was writing for in 1924.