Skip to main content

In "The Vagabond," why do you think Robert Louis Stevenson repeats the lines "all I ask, the heaven above/ and the road below me" in the second and...

These particular lines are from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem entitled “The Vagabond” which is included in a collection of poetry called Songs of Travel and Other Verses. A vagabond is one who travels, one who wanders, without the benefit of a stable home. Stevenson, in this poem, asks for the life of a vagabond or wanderer. He is asking for only “the heaven above and the road below me.” His desire is not to have a stable home, but to have the sky above him and road beneath him on which to walk. The first lines of the poem say, “Give to me the life I love,” the life of a wanderer, and “Give the jolly heaven above/And the byway nigh me.” This is the same sentiment as asking for the sky or “heaven” above and the “road” or “byway” beneath. His home, his place, is to wander, with sky above and road below, on which he continues his wandering. It replaces the home he does not have. If you examine the rest of the poem, you will see many other references to the life of a wanderer.


Robert Louis Stevenson, nineteenth century poet, novelist, and essayist, was, himself, a wanderer of sorts. Due to ill health, he moved from place to place, far from him native Scotland, attempting to find some relief from his condition. He finally settled on the island of Samoa, where he died, and was buried, in 1894.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more