Robert Louis
Stevenson’s Classic Endures
With this post, I’m moving away from the dense, research-packed pages of Quiet, to lighter fare. This choice is no doubt influenced by the uplift I often feel as spring emerges and the days start getting longer and warmer.
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the first books I remember. I had never actually read it until a few weeks ago, because it was only ever read to me. I’m sure this was a big part of its magic.
When this collection of 64 short poems for children was published in 1885, one reviewer wrote that “[the author] not only knows what the children like, but he likes it along with them.” Even though Stevenson was 35 when he wrote this collection, he clearly hadn’t lost the sense of what it was like to be a child, infusing his own childhood joys, cares, and imagination into each poem.
The collection begins with a dedication to his childhood nurse, Alison Cunningham, who cared for him during his many childhood illnesses. Poems like “The Land of Counterpane,” and a section of poems called The Child Alone evoke the loneliness of being young, ill, and without companions. However, despite the challenges of being confined and/or alone, the children in Stevenson’s poems use their imaginations to entertain themselves.
There are also plenty of poems that celebrate the freedom and carefree nature of childhood like “Summer Sun,” “The Flowers,” and “The Swing.” Or, they reflect the adventure of creating new worlds through imagination like “My Bed is a Boat,” “Foreign Lands,” and “My Kingdom.”
The poems I remember most are ones focused on bedtime, which is probably not surprising since it’s when I usually heard them. I’m sure my parents appreciated the power of suggestion in “The Land of Nod,” but the poem that resonated most with me was called “Bed in Summer,” which speaks of a child’s struggle to go to bed when the world is still light and seeming very much awake. I’ll not recount the whole poem but include the last stanza to illustrate the author’s knack for reflecting the real experiences of a child, in soothing verse that helps the reader feel fully understood:
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
In the last poem of his collection, “To Any Reader,” Stevenson offers a somewhat bittersweet message to both children and adults: the relatively carefree days of childhood are fleeting, and too soon they become memory. The poem also suggests that this collection is not just for children, but addresses themes that also resonate with adults, such as loss and loneliness.
Despite being written over 100 years ago, several commentators note how strongly the collection has stood the test of time. One suggests that it’s achieved this by avoiding cloying Victorian sentiment, outdated attitudes (for the most part), and moralistic lessons. Instead, Stevenson’s work continues to offer the reader vivid rhythmic writing about the business of being a child. Even in small and familiar places or things: a bed, a river, a garden, even our shadow, there is opportunity for wonder and delight.
While many present-day children will find these poems entertaining and understandable, the collection still reflects childhood in a very different time. There’s an innocence and romanticism that may feel out of step with more contemporary child-focused stories, so the poems may not resonate with everyone. But, this 100+-year-old collection is guaranteed to remind modern readers (child or adult) about the value of engaging our innate imagination and creativity. In a time when tech distractions abound and life is ever faster, we benefit all the more from the space to dream and let our fertile minds wander where they will.
