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A Child 's Garden Of Verses By Robert Louis Stevenson

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Published in 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses highlights the remarkable imagination and playful nature of children. Many of the poems within the collection portray young children as having a profound connection to the natural world, one that is greatly intensified by Stevenson’s use of the child as speaker. With such nature-oriented poems as “The Little Land,” “My Kingdom,” and “Foreign Lands,” A Child’s Garden of Verses illustrates the vast ways in which children often seek out a close interaction with the outdoors, making the collection optimal for young readers. In addition, Stevenson’s incorporation of flowing meter and even syllable patterns provides children with poetry that is both easy to follow and a joy to read. Through a close examination of the natural imagery and uniform structures used by Robert Louis Stevenson in “The Little Land,” “My Kingdom,” and “Foreign Lands,” A Child’s Garden of Verses is seen as an exceptionally ideal and relatable collection of poetry for young readers. In the opening lines of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Little Land,” a young speaker illustrates how the simple act of daydreaming can take him from a boring indoor experience to a wondrous afternoon adventure among nature:
When at home alone I sit
And am very tired of it,
A have just to shut my eyes
To go sailing through the skies—
To go sailing far away
To the pleasant Land of Play; (1-6)
Throughout the poem’s entirety, Stevenson employs an ample amount of

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