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Bed in Summer -- Robert Louis Stevenson

       
(Poem #290) Bed in Summer
  In winter I get up at night
  And dress by yellow candle-light.
  In summer quite the other way,
  I have to go to bed by day.

  I have to go to bed and see
  The birds still hopping on the tree,
  Or hear the grown-up people's feet
  Still going past me in the street.

  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?
-- Robert Louis Stevenson
A touch of nostalgia today - this poem charmed and enchanted me when I was a
child, with its hints of faraway lands and strange conditions. A funny
thing, though, was that while I could quote the first two verses from
memory, the very existence of the third came as a surprise to me. Nor was it
a pleasant surprise - while verses one and two have a delightful air of
bemusement, the last verse is, to put it quite frankly, whiny. It's
especially sad since the second verse would have been a fine (if somewhat
abrupt) ending, and left the whole a good (if not great) children's poem.

On the other hand, it is still a pretty nice poem, if a very 'children's'
one - the images manage to be quite evocative without being descriptive, and
the rhythms are satisfyingly strong and regular (something that matters a
lot when  you're a child - take a glance through any ten popular nursery
rhymes). I think Stevenson's fault at the end was an attempt to identify
with his audience; one that, quite sadly, misfired.

m.

Notes: From 'A Child's Garden of Verses', the first poem in the book, in
fact.

For a far better poem from the same source, see 'From a Railway Carriage'
poem #84

And  for the complete 'A Child's Garden of Verses', a set of XLI poems
ranging from the amazingly painful to the truly delightful, see
[broken link] http://geocities.com/~spanoudi/poems/rls02.html#1

119 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

Chris Moller said...

Your critique's a bit presumptuous, don't you think?

cm

--
Christian H. L. Moller
Moller Software Development Services, LLC
www.mollerware.comvoicefax)

Martin DeMello said...

--- Chris Moller wrote:
> Your critique's a bit presumptuous, don't you think?

I take it you're referring to the bit where I called the third verse 'whiny'? A
little, perhaps, but I stand by it - there does seem to me to be a distinct
change of tone after the first two verses, and not for the better.

I do usually try to tone down negative criticism, but in this case I was
disappointed by having a fond childhood memory diminished.

martin

EMILY BRAME said...

I love this poem - reading it over gives me lovely memories of Mum dressing me in pale yellow seersucker pjs and reading it to me to help take away the disappointment of day's end and the wretched necessity of having to go to bed. I identified very much with the words of third verse back then. They express my sentiments exactly.

Lisa Hargreaves said...

I can understand your critique if you are reviewing the poem in it's own
right, rather than looking at the whole picture. If you have visited the
basement bedroom/ New Town house in Edinburgh where Stevenson grew up
and know how sick he was, you can sympathise with the third stanza. The
scene is being painted in the first two stanzas with the writers
feelings and opinion being added in the third. The third stanza, to me,
makes the poem whole.

The poem is a wonderfully descriptive and emotive window on the world
through a childs eyes. Any child would rather be able to go out an play
than be stuck indoors on a summer's day. A simple frustration we all
must feel today, even as grown-ups.

I love this poem I have purchased a copy from 1898.

Lisa

Ps. Do not publish my e-mail address. Thank you

Louise Tamboer said...

I am 75 yrs. old and remembered this poem, word for word, since I was 11. My voice was recorded reciting it on my birthday at my friend's house. I will always remember it.
Louise Tamboer

Dandjeccles said...

My mother used to sing this song to us away back.

When you think of the music and words to songs now a days, it's no wonder
that the world is having the trouble they create by their songs and actions. To
bad there aren't more poems to guide the young these daysl

Mallorysmyth said...

It is 35 years since my mum watched me reciting this at a 'feis' in
Dungannon, NI. Now I am looking it up for my daughter to enjoy. I hope it brings
happy memories to her too.

Chris & Niki Harding said...

This is the only poem I learnt as a child that has stayed with me. I love the contrariness of the sentiment - a child not understanding the adult world or sense of timing - still as apt today when I have to call the children in from some wonderful summer game because it is school tomorrow.
I found that the words fit the tune of "Golden Slumbers kiss your eyes" and have sung it to my own children as a lullaby since they were babies.
Niki

Lesley said...

This poem holds such sentiment for me and so sums up the unjust of me
going to bed during those beautiful, sultry summer evenings, when I
could still hear laughter from a nearby garden... My daughters have been
asked to write a poem about going to bed, and having quoted this
non-stop have now been reminded from what childhood book it came from
and have ordered immediately.

Becky Sublett said...

This has always been a favorite poem of mine. Over the years, I have
recited it to children for one reason or another. They have all found it as
delicious as I.

Rebecca Sublett

Margaret Poynter said...

My favorite poem. It takes me back to my childhood. It is a classic.

Anonymous said...

this is not a classic, classics are written by your pets

ภาพโป๊ said...

This poem holds such sentiment for me and so sums up the unjust of me
going to bed during those beautiful, sultry summer evenings

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