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New Poems, and Variant Readings

Robert Louis Stevenson

This compilation includes poems that reveal Stevenson's private thoughts and feelings, some of which are deeply intimate and personal.

"New Poems and Variant Readings" by Robert Louis Stevenson is a collection of poetry. This compilation includes poems that reveal Stevenson's private thoughts and feelings, some of which are deeply intimate and personal.

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Motley I count the only wear That suits, in this mixed world, the truly wise, Who boldly smile upon despair And shake their bells in Grandam Grundy’s eyes. Singers should sing with such a goodly cheer That the bare listening should make strong like wine, At this unruly time of year, The Feast of Valentine.

We do not now parade our “oughts” And “shoulds” and motives and beliefs in God. Their life lies all indoors; sad thoughts Must keep the house, while gay thoughts go abroad, Within we hold the wake for hopes deceased; But in the public streets, in wind or sun, Keep open, at the annual feast, The puppet-booth of fun.

Our powers, perhaps, are small to please, But even negro-songs and castanettes, Old jokes and hackneyed repartees Are more than the parade of vain regrets. Let Jacques stand Wert(h)ering by the wounded deer— We shall make merry, honest friends of mine, At this unruly time of year, The Feast of Valentine.

I know how, day by weary day, Hope fades, love fades, a thousand pleasures fade. I have not trudged in vain that way On which life’s daylight darkens, shade by shade. And still, with hopes decreasing, griefs increased, Still, with what wit I have shall I, for one, Keep open, at the annual feast, The puppet-booth of fun.

Contents

  1. 01Prayer
  2. 02Lo! In Thine Honest Eyes I Read
  3. 03Though Deep Indifference Should Drowse
  4. 04My Heart, When First the Black-Bird Sings
  5. 05I Dreamed of Forest Alleys Fair
  6. 06I.
  7. 07II.
  8. 08III.
  9. 09IV.
  10. 10St. Martin’s Summer
  11. 11Dedication
  12. 12The Old Chimæras, Old Receipts
  13. 13Prelude
  14. 14The Vanquished Knight
  15. 15To the Commissioners of Northern Lights
  16. 16The Relic Taken, What Avails the Shrine?
  17. 17About the Sheltered Garden Ground
  18. 18After Reading “Antony and Cleopatra”
  19. 19I Know Not How, but as I Count
  20. 20Spring Song
  21. 21The Summer Sun Shone Round Me
  22. 22You Looked So Tempting in the Pew
  23. 23Love’s Vicissitudes
  24. 24Duddingstone
  25. 25Stout Marches Lead to Certain Ends
  26. 26Away with Funeral Music
  27. 27To Sydney
  28. 28Had I the Power That Have the Will
  29. 29O Dull Cold Northern Sky
  30. 30Apologetic Postscript of a Year Later
  31. 31To Marcus
  32. 32To Ottilie
  33. 33This Gloomy Northern Day
  34. 34The Wind Is Without There and Howls in the Trees
  35. 35A Valentine’s Song
  36. 36Hail! Childish Slaves of Social Rules
  37. 37Swallows Travel to and Fro
  38. 38To Mesdames Zassetsky and Garschine
  39. 39To Madame Garschine
  40. 40Music at the Villa Marina
  41. 41Fear Not, Dear Friend, but Freely Live Your Days
  42. 42Let Love Go, If Go She Will
  43. 43I Do Not Fear to Own Me Kin
  44. 44I Am Like One That for Long Days Had Sate
  45. 45Voluntary
  46. 46On Now, Although the Year Be Done
  47. 47In the Green and Gallant Spring
  48. 48Death, to the Dead for Evermore
  49. 49To Charles Baxter
  50. 50I Who All the Winter Through
  51. 51Love, What Is Love?
  52. 52Soon Our Friends Perish
  53. 53As One Who Having Wandered All Night Long
  54. 54Strange Are the Ways of Men
  55. 55The Wind Blew Shrill and Smart
  56. 56Man Sails the Deep Awhile
  57. 57The Cock’s Clear Voice Into the Clearer Air
  58. 58Now When the Number of My Years
  59. 59What Man May Learn, What Man May Do
  60. 60Small Is the Trust When Love Is Green

About this edition

Author
Robert Louis Stevenson
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Intermediate: some philosophy helps
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
195 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers