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Cover of A Child's Garden of Verses

A Child's Garden of Verses

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)

  • Free to read
  • 30 min read
  • 53 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 imagination and experiences of childhood through the eyes of young observers. The Scottish author dedicated this influential work to his childhood nurse, Alison Cunningham. These widely imitated poems have become one of the most significant children's literature collections of the 19th century, inspiring countless adaptations including musical arrangements and translations into Latin.

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  • Children's poetry, English

Read the opening

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?

A Thought.

It is very nice to think
The world is full of meat and drink
With little children saying grace
In every Christian kind of place.

Keep reading A Child's Garden of Verses →

Contents

Show all 53 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Bed in Summer
  3. Young Night Thought
  4. Pirate Story
  5. Foreign Lands
  6. Windy Nights
  7. Travels
  8. A Good Play
  9. Where Go the Boats?
  10. The Land of Counterpane
  11. The Land of Nod
  12. My Shadow
  13. System
  14. A Good Boy
  15. Escape at Bedtime
  16. Marching-Song
  17. The Cow
  18. The Wind
  19. Keepsake Mill
  20. Good and Bad Children
  21. Foreign Children
  22. The Sun's Travels
  23. The Lamp-Lighter
  24. My Bed Is a Boat
  25. The Moon
  26. The Swing
  27. Looking-Glass River
  28. From a Railway Carriage
  29. Winter Time
  30. The Hayloft
  31. Farewell to the Farm
  32. North-West Passage
  33. The Unseen Playmate
  34. My Ship and I
  35. My Kingdom
  36. Picture Books in Winter
  37. My Treasures
  38. Block City
  39. The Land of Story-Books
  40. Armies in the Fire
  41. The Little Land
  42. Night and Day
  43. Nest Eggs
  44. The Flowers
  45. Summer Sun
  46. The Dumb Soldier
  47. Autumn Fires
  48. The Gardener
  49. Historical Associations
  50. To Willie and Henrietta
  51. To Minnie
  52. To My Name-Child
  53. 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 #25610, released 2008-05-26. 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 #136 (most read), eBook #19722, eBook #25608, eBook #25609, eBook #25611, eBook #25617.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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