poem analysis

1. “Requiem”
by Robert Louis Stevenson

2. Robert Louis Stevenson
Born on November 13, 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Robert Louis Stevenson
traveled often, and his global wanderings lent themselves well to his brand of
fiction. Stevenson developed a desire to write early in life, having no interest in
the family business of lighthouse engineering. Publishing his first volume at the
age of 28, Stevenson became a literary celebrity during his life when works such
as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were
released to eager audiences. He died in Samoa in 1894.” Requiem” was written
in 1890 ( some years before his death) during late victorianism and the
beginning of modernism. The epithet on his gravestone in Samoa carries the
final three lines of this poem

3. Poem
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 long'd
to be;
Home is the sailor, home from
the sea,
And the hunter home from
the hill.

4. Analysis
“Requiem” embraces the end of all of our lives which is inevitably
dying. The title glorifies everyone who has gone through their
noble end, since Requiem means “a mass for the dead” or “a
solemn chant for the repose of the dead”. The reader is able to
witness someone who doesn't fear death, but that is ready for it.

5. Themes and Tones
Themes:
● Life’s Journey
● Life and Death
● Embracing our destiny
● Acceptance of Mortality
Tones:
● Serene
● Calm
● At Ease

6. Literary devices
● ‘Under the wide and starry sky’ - visual imagery, showing a Serene
and calm environment
● Repetition of the word “home” throughout the second stanza
● Two metaphors about the grave which represent the voice’s idea
of death, being a soothing rest.
● “sailor… home from sea” is a metaphor explains his view on
death

7. Essay Question :
How does Stevenson portrays the
themes life and death.