The Land of Story-Books

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.

Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.

There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.

These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.

I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.

So when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Story-books.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 14, 2023

49 sec read
130

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF GGHH IIJJ KKLL
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 795
Words 163
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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