#robertlouisstevenson — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #robertlouisstevenson, aggregated by home.social.
-
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
I’ve a grand memory for forgetting, David.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Novel (1886), Kidnapped, ch. 18 “I Talk with Alan in the Wood of Lettermore”
[Alan]More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #forgetting #memory #memoryloss #selectivememory
-
“Summer Sun” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer whose adventurous imagination and recognisable style made him one of the most celebrated authors of the Victorian era. Still widely read, he is nowadays best known for classic works of literature such as Treasure Island (1883) and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886).
Robert Louis StevensonIn this post, however, we’ll get acquainted with one of his poems: “Summer Sun” was first published in 1885, as part of his collection titled A Child’s Garden of Verses. In it, the poet personifies the Sun, presenting him as “the gardener of the World” — a kind presence that brings life, warmth, and gladness to all living things.
Below the poem you’ll find a vocabulary exercise and discussion points designed for English language learners. For more summer-related poetry posts, please click on the links at the bottom of the page.
Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven without repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.
Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.
The dusty attic spider-clad,
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles,
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.
Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.
Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.VOCABULARY EXERCISE
Find the nouns in the poem with the following meaning:
- a sitting room, a drawing room
- a small, quiet space; a corner
- a period of resting and relaxation
- a small, narrow opening
- a window covering used to control light and privacy
Click here for the answer key.
DISCUSSION POINTS
- What kind of mood or feeling does the poem create? Is it energetic, calm, or something else?
- In many cultures, the Sun is presented as a “he” — a masculine figure, while the Moon is often presented as a “she”. Why is that, do you think?
- This poem is set in summer. How might the poet describe the winter sun?
MORE SUMMER-THEMED POEMS
“Rain in Summer” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“In Summer” by Lord Alfred Douglas
NOTES
I’m a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.
If you wish to receive new content from my blog – as soon as it’s published – please enter your email address in the subscribe box below.
To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!
COVER PHOTO CREDIT
#English #EnglishLiterature #EnglishVocabulary #learningEnglish #literature #poem #poetry #readingComprehension #readingSkills #RobertLouisStevenson #summer -
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
In the life of the artist there need be no hour without its pleasure. I take the author, with whose career I am best acquainted; and it is true he works in a rebellious material, and that the act of writing is cramped and trying both to the eyes and the temper; but remark him in his study, when matter crowds upon him and words are not wanting — in what a continual series of small successes time flows by; with what a sense of power as of one moving mountains, he marshals his petty characters; with what pleasures, both of the ear and eye, he sees his airy structure growing on the page; and how he labours in a craft to which the whole material of his life is tributary, and which opens a door to all his tastes, his loves, his hatreds, and his convictions, so that what he writes is only what he longed to utter. He may have enjoyed many things in this big, tragic playground of the world; but what shall he have enjoyed more fully than a morning of successful work? Suppose it ill paid: the wonder is it should be paid at all. Other men pay, and pay dearly, for pleasures less desirable.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-09), “A Letter to a Young Gentleman Who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #accomplishment #art #artist #author #creativity #creator #enjoyment #hardwork #inthezone #pleasure #satisfaction #writer #writing