Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an only child and was sickly so spent a lot of time in bed. After studying law at Edinburgh University, he travelled for four years around Europe and the USA, spending a lot of time in California. He moved back to Europe but was plagued by ill health. This was when he wrote A Child's Garden of Verses and his popular classics, Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr Jeyll and Mr Hyde.
In 1888 he started travelling the Pacific with his family, spending time in palces like Hawaii, Tahiti and Samoa. In 1890, he purcahsed land in Samoa and lived and wrote there until he died on December 3, 1894.
The natives insisted on surrounding his body with a watch-guard during the night, and on bearing their Tusitala (Samoan for "Story Writer") upon their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea and buried him on a spot overlooking the sea. A tablet was placed there, bearing this epitaph:
“ Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.”
If you want to study the poem 'Bed in Summer' with your primary school child or class, here is a link to a worksheet.
There are more of his poems in his most popular book
A Child's Garden of Verses'
Why not download the poster of the poem and frame or laminate it for your waiting room or staffroom? You order 'A Child's Garden of Verses' by Robert Louis Stevenson published by many publishers from Amazon and all good bookshops.
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