Selected Poems

Far more than in his famous novels, it was in verse that Robert Louis Stevenson felt able to give direct expression to his deepest feelings about friendship, love, and nostalgia. Fascinated by a wide variety of verse techniques, Stevenson produced superb work in styles ranging from folk ballads to witty conversational offerings for his friends. Pieces using the stanza form and dialect of Robert Burns rank among the most attractive poetry in the Scots tradition. Also featured here are many uncollected poems, substantial extracts from the published collections, and the complete A Child's Garden of Verses, an extraordinarily evocative picture of childhood loneliness, visions, and fears.

The Victorian poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson once said, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." The author of the magical A Child's Garden of Verses and the chilling The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson indeed planted powerful literary seeds -- that grew into undisputed classics.