Cover of A Child's Garden of Verses

A Child's Garden of Verses

  • Free to read
  • 30 min read
  • 51 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson is a collection of 64 poems published in 1885. Written from a child's perspective, these verses capture the wonder and imagination of childhood through the eyes of young speakers. The Scottish author dedicated this influential work to his childhood nurse, Alison Cunningham. The collection has been reprinted countless times in illustrated editions and widely imitated, establishing itself as one of the most significant children's literary works of the 19th century.

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  • Children's poetry, English

Read the opening

Chapter I: 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?

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Contents

Show all 51 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Chapter I: Bed in Summer
  3. Chapter IV: Young Night-Thought
  4. Chapter VIII: Foreign Lands
  5. Chapter IX: Windy Nights
  6. Chapter X: Travel
  7. Chapter XIII: A Good Play
  8. Chapter XIV: Where Go the Boats?
  9. Chapter XVI: The Land of Counterpane
  10. Chapter XVII: The Land of Nod
  11. Chapter XVIII: My Shadow
  12. Chapter XIX: System
  13. Chapter XX: A Good Boy
  14. Chapter XXI: Escape at Bedtime
  15. Chapter XXII: Marching Song
  16. Chapter XXIII: The Cow
  17. Chapter XXV: The Wind
  18. Chapter XXVI: Keepsake Mill
  19. Chapter XXVII: Good and Bad Children
  20. Chapter XXVIII: Foreign Children
  21. Chapter XXIX: The Sun Travels
  22. Chapter XXX: The Lamplighter
  23. Chapter XXXI: My Bed is a Boat
  24. Chapter XXXII: The Moon
  25. Chapter XXXIII: The Swing
  26. Chapter XXXV: Looking-Glass River
  27. Chapter XXXVII: From a Railway Carriage
  28. Chapter XXXVIII: Winter-Time
  29. Chapter XXXIX: The Hayloft
  30. Chapter XL: Farewell to the Farm
  31. Chapter XLI: North-West Passage
  32. Chapter I: The Unseen Playmate
  33. Chapter II: My Ship and I
  34. Chapter III: My Kingdom
  35. Chapter IV: Picture-Books in Winter
  36. Chapter V: My Treasures
  37. Chapter VI: Block City
  38. Chapter VII: The Land of Story-Books
  39. Chapter VIII: Armies in the Fire
  40. Chapter IX: The Little Land
  41. Chapter I: Night and Day
  42. Chapter II: Nest Eggs
  43. Chapter III: The Flowers
  44. Chapter IV: Summer Sun
  45. Chapter VI: Autumn Fires
  46. Chapter VII: The Gardener
  47. Chapter VIII: Historical Associations
  48. Chapter I: To Willie and Henrietta
  49. Chapter III: To Auntie
  50. Chapter V: To My Name-Child
  51. Chapter VI: To Any Reader

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About this edition

This free edition of A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #136, released 1994-06-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Children & Young Adult Reading, Poetry, British Literature.

Other editions: eBook #19722, eBook #25608, eBook #25609, eBook #25610, eBook #25611, eBook #25617.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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