Excerpt

Excerpt from New Poems, and Variant Readings, by Robert Louis Stevenson

FLOWER god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful,
Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles,
Here I wander in April
Cold, grey-headed; and still to my
Heart, Spring comes with a bound, Spring the deliverer,
Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant;
Spring, flower-planter in meadows,
Child-conductor in willowy
Fields deep dotted with bloom, daisies and crocuses:
Here that child from his heart drinks of eternity:
O child, happy are children!
She still smiles on their innocence,
She, dear mother in God, fostering violets,
Fills earth full of her scents, voices and violins:
Thus one cunning in music
Wakes old chords in the memory:
Thus fair earth in the Spring leads her performances.
One more touch of the bow, smell of the virginal
Green—one more, and my bosom
Feels new life with an ecstasy.

COME, MY BELOVED, HEAR FROM ME

COME, my beloved, hear from me
Tales of the woods or open sea.
Let our aspiring fancy rise
A wren’s flight higher toward the skies;
Or far from cities, brown and bare,
Play at the least in open air.
In all the tales men hear us tell
Still let the unfathomed ocean swell,
Or shallower forest sound abroad
Below the lonely stars of God;
In all, let something still be done,
Still in a corner shine the sun,
Slim-ankled maids be fleet of foot,
Nor man disown the rural flute.
Still let the hero from the start
In honest sweat and beats of heart
Push on along the untrodden road
For some inviolate abode.
Still, O beloved, let me hear
The great bell beating far and near—
The odd, unknown, enchanted gong
That on the road hales men along,
That from the mountain calls afar,
That lures a vessel from a star,
And with a still, aerial sound
Makes all the earth enchanted ground.
Love, and the love of life and act
Dance, live and sing through all our furrowed tract;
Till the great God enamoured gives
To him who reads, to him who lives,
That rare and fair romantic strain
That whoso hears must hear again.

---

Explanation

Detailed Explanation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Excerpts from New Poems, and Variant Readings

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) is best known for adventure novels like Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but he was also a prolific poet whose works often celebrated nature, childhood, and the romantic spirit. The two excerpts provided—"Flower god, god of the spring" and "Come, my beloved, hear from me"—reflect his lyrical style, his reverence for nature, and his longing for adventure, innocence, and transcendence.

Below, I analyze each poem in depth, focusing on themes, literary devices, structure, and the emotional and philosophical significance of the text itself.

---

1. "Flower god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful..."

Context & Overview

This poem is a celebration of spring, personified as a divine force that rejuvenates both the natural world and the human spirit. Stevenson, who suffered from poor health much of his life, often wrote about the contrast between physical frailty and the vitality of nature. Here, the speaker—an aging man—contrasts his own "cold, grey-headed" state with the exuberant, life-giving power of spring.

The poem blends pagan imagery (flower god, earth mother) with Christian undertones ("mother in God"), suggesting a universal, almost mystical reverence for nature’s renewal.

---

Themes

1. Renewal & Rebirth

   • Spring is depicted as a "deliverer"—a force that liberates the earth (and the human heart) from winter’s grip.
   • The imagery of "flower-planter in meadows" and "child-conductor in willowy fields" suggests growth, innocence, and guidance.

2. Contrast Between Age and Youth

   • The speaker is "cold, grey-headed", yet his heart still leaps at spring’s arrival.
   • The "child" who "drinks of eternity" symbolizes pure, untainted joy—something the aging speaker observes with both envy and nostalgia.

3. Music & Harmony

   • Spring is a "song-leader in woods, chorally resonant", and the earth performs like an orchestra ("voices and violins").
   • The "one touch of the bow" (a musical metaphor) suggests that spring awakens dormant emotions in the speaker.

4. Divine Feminine & Mother Earth

   • The "dear mother in God" fostering violets evokes Gaia-like nurturing, blending pagan and Christian imagery.
   • The earth is active, creative, and musical—not just a passive landscape.

5. Transcendence & Memory

   • The "old chords in the memory" suggest that spring reconnects the speaker to lost youth and eternal beauty.
   • The final lines ("new life with an ecstasy") imply a spiritual or emotional rebirth.

---

Literary Devices & Structure

1. Personification

   • Spring is a "god", a "lover of versicles" (poetic lines), a "song-leader", and a "child-conductor".
   • The earth is a "mother" who "fills earth full of her scents".

2. Imagery (Sensory & Natural)

   • Visual: "Cold-dyed shield in the sky" (spring sky as a protective, colorful barrier), "daisies and crocuses".
   • Auditory: "chorally resonant", "voices and violins", "the great bell beating far and near" (in the second poem).
   • Olfactory: "smell of the virginal green", "fills earth full of her scents".
   • Tactile: "cold, grey-headed" (the speaker’s physical state vs. spring’s warmth).

3. Metaphor & Simile

   • Spring is a "deliverer" (like a savior).
   • The earth’s renewal is like a "performance" (musical and theatrical).
   • The child’s joy is like "drinking of eternity".

4. Repetition & Parallelism

   • "Spring" is repeated at the start of three lines, creating a liturgical, hymn-like effect.
   • "Still" in the second poem reinforces continuity and permanence.

5. Rhyme & Meter

   • The poem has an irregular but musical rhythm, with short, punchy lines ("Here I wander in April") followed by longer, flowing ones ("Spring, song-leader in woods, chorally resonant").
   • The ABAB or ABCB rhyme scheme gives it a song-like quality, fitting the theme of spring as a "song-leader".

---

Significance & Interpretation

• Nature as a Healer: Despite the speaker’s physical decline, spring revives his spirit, suggesting that beauty and nature are eternal antidotes to human suffering.
• Childhood as Eden: The "happy" child represents a lost paradise—innocence that adults can only observe, not reclaim.
• Art & Nature as One: The poem blends poetry ("versicles"), music ("violins"), and nature, suggesting that art is humanity’s way of echoing the divine harmony of the natural world.
• Transcendence Through Beauty: The final lines ("new life with an ecstasy") imply that aesthetic and emotional experiences can be as powerful as religious ones.

---

2. "Come, my beloved, hear from me..."

Context & Overview

This poem is a romantic invitation to adventure and storytelling, blending love, nature, and heroism. Stevenson, a master of adventure tales, infuses this poem with wanderlust, mythic grandeur, and a celebration of life’s vitality.

The speaker calls to a beloved, urging them to escape the "brown and bare" cities and embrace wild nature, heroism, and the enchantment of the unknown.

---

Themes

1. Escape from Civilization

   • The poem rejects urban life ("far from cities, brown and bare") in favor of "open air" and "untrodden roads".
   • The "rural flute" symbolizes simplicity and natural joy, contrasted with the artificiality of cities.

2. Adventure & Heroism

   • The "hero" who pushes on "in honest sweat and beats of heart" embodies Stevenson’s ideal of courage and perseverance (seen in his own novels).
   • The "inviolate abode" (a sacred, untouched place) is the ultimate goal of the quest.

3. Romantic Love & Companionship

   • The poem is a duet between lovers, with the speaker inviting the beloved to share in the wonder of life.
   • Love is not just personal but cosmic—it connects to "the great God" and the "romantic strain" that enchants the world.

4. The Enchanted World

   • The "odd, unknown, enchanted gong" is a mystical call to adventure, luring men from "a star" (perhaps a metaphor for destiny or the divine).
   • The earth becomes "enchanted ground"—a place where myth and reality merge.

5. The Eternal Romance of Life

   • The "rare and fair romantic strain" suggests that true beauty and meaning are found in living fully, not in passive existence.
   • The final lines imply that those who truly live (and read, and love) are rewarded with a timeless, repeating joy.

---

Literary Devices & Structure

1. Apostrophe (Direct Address)

   • The poem begins with "Come, my beloved", making it an intimate, persuasive invitation.

2. Imagery (Natural & Mythic)

   • Nature: "woods or open sea", "shallower forest", "rural flute".
   • Mythic/Cosmic: "lonely stars of God", "vessel from a star", "great God enamoured".
   • Sensory: "slim-ankled maids be fleet of foot" (visual, kinetic), "great bell beating far and near" (auditory).

3. Metaphor & Symbolism

   • The "wren’s flight higher toward the skies" symbolizes aspiration and freedom.
   • The "great bell" is a mystical summons, perhaps representing fate, adventure, or divine calling.
   • The "furrowed tract" (plowed field) suggests life as a journey, where love and action "dance, live and sing".

4. Repetition & Parallelism

   • "Still let..." repeats at the start of multiple lines, creating a rhythmic, incantatory effect.
   • **"Far and near"*, "afar", "from a star"—these spatial contrasts emphasize the vastness of the call to adventure.

5. Rhyme & Rhythm

   • The poem has a steady, marching rhythm, fitting its theme of journey and quest.
   • The AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme gives it a folk-song quality, reinforcing its oral, storytelling nature.

---

Significance & Interpretation

• Adventure as a Metaphor for Life: Stevenson, who lived a peripatetic life (traveling due to illness), saw adventure as essential to human fulfillment.
• Love & Nature as Twin Ideals: The beloved is not just a romantic partner but a companion in the grand journey of life.
• The Hero’s Journey: The poem echoes mythic structures—the call to adventure, the untrodden road, the final reward ("that rare and fair romantic strain").
• Art as Enchantment: The "romantic strain" that "whoso hears must hear again" suggests that great stories (and great lives) are eternal, repeating like a musical refrain.

---

Comparative Analysis of the Two Poems

Aspect	"Flower god, god of the spring"	"Come, my beloved, hear from me"
Primary Theme	Nature’s renewal, aging vs. youth	Adventure, love, heroic living
Tone	Reflective, reverent, nostalgic	Exhortative, romantic, exhilarating
Imagery	Spring, children, music	Forests, seas, heroes, enchanted bells
Structure	Lyrical, hymn-like	Narrative, quest-like
Call to Action	Observe and feel spring’s magic	Join in the grand adventure of life
Divine Presence	Mother Earth, pagan/Christian blend	"Great God enamoured" (more abstract)
Emotional Arc	From melancholy to ecstasy	From invitation to transcendence

---

Conclusion: Stevenson’s Romantic Vision

Both poems embody Stevenson’s Romantic sensibilities—his love for nature, adventure, and the transcendent power of beauty. While the first poem is a meditation on time and renewal, the second is a call to heroic living.

• "Flower god" shows how nature’s cycles can reawaken the human spirit, even in old age.
• "Come, my beloved" argues that life should be lived as a grand adventure, with love, storytelling, and courage at its heart.

Stevenson, like the Romantics before him (Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge), saw poetry as a bridge between the earthly and the divine. These excerpts remind us that beauty, love, and adventure are not just fleeting pleasures but eternal truths—ones that "whoso hears must hear again."

---

Questions

Question 1

The speaker’s invocation of Spring as a "flower god" and "dear mother in God" primarily serves to:

A. establish a theological framework that reconciles pagan and Christian traditions.
B. critique the impersonality of modern industrial society through pastoral idealism.
C. personify natural renewal as a transcendent force capable of evoking ecstatic human response.
D. contrast the speaker’s physical decline with the eternal vigor of mythological deities.
E. propose a syncretic religion where nature worship supplants institutionalized faith.

Question 2

The "great bell beating far and near" in the second poem functions most analogously to which element in the first poem?

A. the "cold-dyed shield in the sky" (a protective but distant emblem).
B. the "child-conductor in willowy fields" (a guide for the innocent).
C. the "song-leader in woods" (a unifying voice in nature).
D. the "virginal green" (a symbol of untouched purity).
E. the "one touch of the bow" (a catalytic moment of emotional awakening).

Question 3

The structural repetition of "Still let" in the second poem primarily achieves which effect?

A. a liturgical cadence that mimics the rhythm of communal prayer.
B. a paradoxical tension between stasis ("still") and the dynamism of adventure.
C. an ironic juxtaposition of the speaker’s longing with the beloved’s likely indifference.
D. a cumulative argument for escapism as the only meaningful human pursuit.
E. an incantatory insistence on permanence amid the poem’s themes of transience and quest.

Question 4

The "child" in the first poem and the "hero" in the second poem are most significantly linked by their shared:

A. vulnerability to the caprices of fate.
B. embodiment of an idealized state of being (innocence and courage, respectively).
C. role as passive recipients of divine or natural benevolence.
D. function as foils to the speaker’s disillusionment.
E. symbolic representation of the speaker’s lost youth.

Question 5

Which of the following best describes the relationship between the two poems’ treatments of time?

A. The first poem laments time’s passage, while the second denies its relevance through mythic timelessness.
B. The first poem focuses on cyclical renewal, while the second emphasizes linear progression toward a goal.
C. Both poems use temporal contrast (aging vs. youth, past vs. future) to underscore human limitation.
D. The first poem’s seasonal imagery is static, whereas the second’s adventurous tone accelerates temporal perception.
E. The first poem collapses time into an ecstatic present, while the second expands it into an eternal, repeating "romantic strain."

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: C

Why C is most correct: The poem’s personification of Spring as a divine, almost musical force ("song-leader," "flower-planter") is not merely decorative but functional: it transforms an abstract seasonal shift into an active, ecstatic agent that elicits a visceral response in the speaker ("my bosom / Feels new life with an ecstasy"). The fusion of natural imagery with religious and artistic language (e.g., "chorally resonant," "performances") elevates Spring to a transcendent catalyst, bridging the gap between the external world and the speaker’s internal revival. This aligns with Romantic traditions where nature is not just observed but experienced as a sublime, quasi-spiritual force.

Why the distractors are less supported:

• A: While the poem blends pagan and Christian elements ("mother in God"), the focus is not on theological reconciliation but on the emotional and sensory impact of Spring. The syncretism is incidental to the primary effect.
• B: There’s no explicit critique of industrial society; the pastoral imagery serves lyrical and emotional purposes, not social commentary.
• D: The contrast between the speaker’s age and Spring’s vigor exists, but the core function of the personification is to evoke ecstasy, not to dwell on decline.
• E: The poem does not propose a new religious system; the divine language is metaphorical, emphasizing Spring’s transformative power rather than doctrinal innovation.

2) Correct answer: E

Why E is most correct: The "great bell" in the second poem is a mystical, resonant summons that "makes all the earth enchanted ground" and lures men from afar—akin to a catalytic moment that awakens something dormant. Similarly, the "one touch of the bow" in the first poem is the final, decisive action that triggers the speaker’s ecstatic rebirth ("new life with an ecstasy"). Both images represent thresholds of transformation: the bell as an auditory call to adventure, the bow as a tactile/musical spark of renewal. Their shared function is to initiate a transcendent shift in perception or being.

Why the distractors are less supported:

• A: The "cold-dyed shield" is a static, visual emblem of protection, lacking the dynamic, catalytic quality of the bell or bow.
• B: The "child-conductor" is a guide for innocence, not a universal call like the bell.
• C: The "song-leader" unifies nature’s voices but doesn’t carry the sudden, irreversible impact of the bell/bow.
• D: The "virginal green" symbolizes purity but is passive; the bell and bow are active agents of change.

3) Correct answer: E

Why E is most correct: The anaphoric repetition of "Still let" creates a ritualistic, insistent rhythm that counters the poem’s themes of transience and quest. Each iteration reinforces a desire for permanence—whether in the persistence of natural beauty ("shine the sun"), human vitality ("slim-ankled maids be fleet of foot"), or heroic ideals ("the hero... push on"). This tension between the ephemeral (adventure, youth) and the eternal (the "romantic strain" that repeats) mirrors the first poem’s collapse of time into an ecstatic present. The repetition thus acts as an incantation, willing permanence into existence amid flux.

Why the distractors are less supported:

• A: While the cadence is rhythmic, it’s not liturgical in a religious sense; the focus is on secular permanence (nature, love, heroism).
• B: The "still" here denotes continuity, not stasis vs. dynamism. The poem celebrates active living, not paradox.
• C: There’s no irony or suggestion of the beloved’s indifference; the tone is exhortative and inclusive.
• D: The poem doesn’t argue for escapism as the only meaningful pursuit but for adventure as one facet of a full life.

4) Correct answer: B

Why B is most correct: Both the "child" and the "hero" represent idealized states that embody virtues the speaker reveres but does not fully inhabit. The child symbolizes innocence and eternal joy ("drinks of eternity"), while the hero embodies courage and purpose ("honest sweat and beats of heart"). Neither is passive: the child actively partakes in spring’s magic, and the hero pushes onward. Their significance lies in their archetypal perfection—the child as a vessel of pure experience, the hero as a model of agency—both serving as aspirational foils to the speaker’s more complex (aged or urban-weary) perspective.

Why the distractors are less supported:

• A: Neither figure is portrayed as vulnerable; they are icons of resilience (child’s joy, hero’s perseverance).
• C: Both are active participants in their respective domains (nature/adventure), not passive recipients.
• D: They are not foils to disillusionment but embodiments of ideals the speaker celebrates.
• E: The child may symbolize lost youth, but the hero represents future potential, not nostalgia. Their link is idealization, not personal loss.

5) Correct answer: E

Why E is most correct: The first poem collapses time into a single, ecstatic present where Spring’s renewal erases the speaker’s age ("new life with an ecstasy"). The second poem expands time into a cyclical, eternal "romantic strain" that "whoso hears must hear again," suggesting a timeless, repeating enchantment. Both treatments transcend linear time: the first through immediate sensory immersion, the second through mythic recurrence. This aligns with Romantic ideals of the sublime moment (poem 1) and the eternal narrative (poem 2).

Why the distractors are less supported:

• A: The first poem does not lament time but transcends it; the second does not deny time but mythologizes it.
• B: The first poem’s cyclical renewal is not static, and the second’s quest is not purely linear—it circles back to the "romantic strain."
• C: Neither poem focuses on human limitation; both emphasize transcendence (ecstasy, enchantment).
• D: The first poem’s imagery is dynamic (Spring as a performer), and the second’s adventurous tone does not accelerate time but suspends it in myth.