Stevenson’s Birthday
“How I should like a birthday!” said the child,“I have so few, and they so far apart.”She spoke to Stevenson--the Master smiled--“Mine is to-day; I would with all my heartThat it were yours; too many years have I!Too swift they come, and all too swiftly fly”
So by a formal deed he there conveyedAll right and title in his natal day,To have and hold, to sell or give away,--Then signed, and gave it to the little maid.
Joyful, yet fearing to believe too much,She took the deed, but scarcely dared unfold.Ah, liberal Genius! at whose potent touchAll common things shine with transmuted gold!A day of Stevenson’s will prove to beNot part of Time, but Immortality.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- natal a.
- Of or pertaining to one's birth; accompying or dating from one's birth; native. [L. natalis, fr. natus, p.p. of nasci to be born: cf. F. natal. See Nation, and cf. Noel.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stevenson’s Birthday is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Stevenson’s Birthday, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/stevenson-s-birthday.html, id L25256.
Form and metre
Stevenson’s Birthday is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC childA · apartB · smiledA · heartB · iC · flyC
- 2 ABBA conveyedA · dayB · awayB · maidA
- 3 ABABCC muchA · unfoldB · touchA · goldB · beC · immortalityC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “How I should like a birthday!” said the child, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| “I have so few, and they so far apart.” | 10 | ········˘/ |
| She spoke to Stevenson--the Master smiled-- | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| “Mine is to-day; I would with all my heart | 10 | ·········· |
| That it were yours; too many years have I! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Too swift they come, and all too swiftly fly” | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So by a formal deed he there conveyed | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| All right and title in his natal day, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To have and hold, to sell or give away,-- | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Then signed, and gave it to the little maid. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Joyful, yet fearing to believe too much, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/·· |
| She took the deed, but scarcely dared unfold. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Ah, liberal Genius! at whose potent touch | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| All common things shine with transmuted gold! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A day of Stevenson’s will prove to be | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Not part of Time, but Immortality. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.