As a child I was given a beautiful volume of A Child’s Garden of Verses, and in some ways it remains in my mind the best of all poetry books. Admittedly this reveals my bias for children’s literature, but then we all know about that. And I am not alone in believing that even in his poems for children, Stevenson’s craft and wisdom make for thought-provoking, timeless observations about life. And let us not forget that Stevenson also wrote poetry for adults, as well as novels, short stories and non-fiction essays.
Here is a link to a page offering Stevenson’s complete canon of poetry: http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/stevenson/stevenson_ind.html
Here is another with a listing of his complete works (I’m not a big fan of reading novels on screen, but this is a great resource: http://www.online-literature.com/stevenson/
And finally, a mid-summer favorite to remind us all that life is fleeting and meant to be enjoyed:
Gather Ye Roses
Gather ye roses while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
A world where beauty fleets away
Is no world for denying.
Come lads and lasses, fall to play
Lose no more time in sighing
The very flowers you pluck to-day
To-morrow will be dying;
And all the flowers are crying,
And all the leaves have tongues to say,-
Gather ye roses while ye may.
Today's Poetry Friday Round-Up is taking place at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup.
4 comments:
I grew up with my dad's old copy of A Child's Garden of Verses, and now dip into it with my own children... he seems to have a poem for every parallel of childhood then and now. A great favourite at the moment is "Bed in Summer" because it's so light outside at the moment!
Thank you for the links - a great resource...
I also grew up with A Child's Garden of Verses -- in fact, it was my introduction to poetry. Thanks for the links. I definitely want to dip into his poems again.
I loved it as a kid, and still do. Wish I still had my original copy. That, and my Shirley Temple Storybook. That book had such a unique scent. I miss it still.
Thanks for that, Sally.
Sally -- my first poetry memory is reading "The Swing" from Child's Garden and actually feeling like I was swinging in the English countryside. Thanks!
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