[20] Requiem
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."
-- Robert L. Stevenson
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This poem more or less speaks for itself; it was inscribed on Stevenson's
gravestone as an epitaph. RLS is a lot better known for his marvellous
romances, such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped; though I'd hesitate to
call his poetry 'brilliant', it is nonetheless well-written and enjoyable,
with simple but nicely rhythmic and often surprisingly memorable phrases.
The penultimate line is often given as 'home from _the_ sea'; while I have
no idea which is the correct version, I prefer the one above.
Biographical Note:
[Stevenson] had shown a desire to write early in life, and once in his
teens he had deliberately set out to learn the writer's craft by imitating
a great variety of models in prose and verse. His youthful enthusiasm for
the Covenanters (i.e., those Scotsmen who banded together to defend their
version of Presbyterianism in the 17th century) led to his writing The
Pentland Rising, his first printed work. During his years at the
university he rebelled against his parents' religion and set himself up as
a liberal bohemian who abhorred the alleged cruelties and hypocrisies of
bourgeois respectability.
[...]
Stevenson was frequently abroad, most often in France. Two of his journeys
produced An Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
(1879). His career as a writer developed slowly.
[...]
It was these early essays, carefully wrought, quizzically meditative in
tone, and unusual in sensibility, that first drew attention to Stevenson
as a writer.
-- Encyclopaedia Britannica
Criticism:
Stevenson's literary reputation has also fluctuated. The reaction against
him set in soon after his death: he was considered a mannered and
imitative essayist or only a writer of children's books. But eventually
the pendulum began to swing the other way, and by the 1950s his reputation
was established among the more discerning as a writer of originality and
power; whose essays at their best are cogent and perceptive renderings of
aspects of the human condition; whose novels are either brilliant
adventure stories with subtle moral overtones or original and impressive
presentations of human action in terms of history and topography as well
as psychology; whose short stories produce some new and effective
permutations in the relation between romance and irony or manage to
combine horror and suspense with moral diagnosis; whose poems, though not
showing the highest poetic genius, are often skillful, occasionally (in
his use of Scots, for example) interesting and original, and sometimes (in
A Child's Garden) valuable for their exhibition of a special kind of
sensibility.
-- E.B.
Martin
From: "Sodergren, Ted" <TSoderg@>
First, a confession. I first read this poem in the epic book Battle Cry. I
was moved by the poem in that context. No apologies.
As I've lived more life, I've understood this poem more and liked it better.
It almost becomes a creed.
At any rate, it's a life summary that serves well. Serves Stevenson well, I
believe, at his grave in the Pacific.
Enough for me.
Ted
From: "Robert A. Downie" <rdownie@>
I fell in love with this poem around the age of 14. It has remained
with me for 40 years. RD
From: "Tony Heathcote" <jaitch@>
I have known and liked this poem for many years.I do not think that
R.L.Stevenson,or any-one of his time would have written:"Home from
sea".the idea of eliminating the definate article;''the'' is a very
recent thing.I have mainly noticed it among workers on radio stationsand
do not recall seeing it in the newspapers that I read.According to a
radio report that I heard it was started by radio people because they
were sending a lot of emails and started dropping ''the'' from their
emails.The poor things didn't seem to have the mental capacity to just
use it in emails,they started to use it in their conversations.That is
in contrast to their predecessors, before the age of sattelites and
mobile phones.In those days messages were sent by telegrams over
telegraph wires in morse code.The messages cost x amount per word,so
people,especially reporters would eliminate words such as ''the'',and
many others, to reduce costs.The telegraph operators would be sending
those messages all day but they never dropped ''the",etc from their
daily conversations.Their brains had no difficulty in separating message
language from rest.I say again,R L Stevenson would not have
written:"Home from sea".
From: "Erroll Bingley" <ebingley@>
what a beautiful sentiment. it quites my sole. my lifelong fears of
death is gone from my worldly thoughts. i can now give up the spirit of
my departed fellows to a better place, where we may again climb the hill
of friendship together in an ever lasting spirit that will live on
forever.
thank you Robert L.Stevenson for this work.
respectfully,
Erroll Bingley
From: "Mallika Chellappa" <mchellappa@>
Puh-lease add a "the" before "sea"!
Others do:
http://www.bartleby.com/103/15.html
Mallika
From: <eeroger@>
I, too, fell in love with this poem as a boy. Saying so much with such
simplicity has always grabbed me.
Elbert E. Rogers
From: Paul Greenhow <paul@>
In the debate about the penultimate line, it doesn't appear that anybody
has considered that this is tetrameter and adding the word the would spoil
this rhythm. My 1890 (published during RLS lifetime) fifth edition reads
'home from sea'
From: "kerry & kip" <kipsuklis@>
Why is it that everyone leaves out the middle verse? It may not scan
well in today's english, but I feel thet it is an important part of the
poem:
"Here may the winds about me blow,
Here the sea may come and go
Here lies peace forevermo'
And the heart for aye shall be still."
From: fpulmanns@
I, too really like this poem, for its acceptance of what eventually must
come after life, and because of that acceptance, dignity and the ability
to enjoy what time one has. The third line, especially strikes a chord
with me.
Incidentally, I first stumbled upon this poem in a very good (IMO,
anyway) short story by Robert Heinlein. I believe it was called "The man
who sold the moon", but I'm not sure. Anyone?
Bran Dawri
"When approaching a crossroads, always turn left, 'cause the right way
is rong!"
From: "MelDros@" <meldros@bellsouth.net>
"Incidentally, I first stumbled upon this poem in a very good (IMO,
anyway) short story by Robert Heinlein. I believe it was called "The man
who sold the moon", but I'm not sure. Anyone?"
No, it was called "Requiem" and that was also my first introduction to it.
Mel Droszcz
Fort Lauderdale
(Off) 954-485-3426
(FAX) 206-600-2954
From: ARBunch@ Thu Jul 1 12:03:32 2004
My father passed away three years ago tomorrow from lung cancer and
wanted this poem etched on his stone. We did so, not only to honor his
request but because it was so fitting. I remember him quoting this poem
from time to time and recently wondered who wrote it. I find it fitting
that someone who wrote such an epic novel as Treasure Island could write
something so concise and to the point, saying so much with so few words.
That was my father, a man who lived life to the fullest but who's life
could be measured by simply saying: he was the best. You can view his
headstone at ronbunch.com
Amy Bunch
Pier 1 Imports
Landing Specialist
817-252-6192
Regret not what you do but what you don't.
From: Patrick Brinton <pbrinton@>
I think the controversy over "from sea" is an English/American English
thing. In England the constructions "He went to sea" and "I was in
hospital" are commonly used; I live in the US, and get raised eyebrows
when I use them. The other one I can think of that often drops the
"the" is church. I am sure there are many more. I have certainly also
heard "she is out of hospital" and while I do not recall having
actually heard "home from sea", it is not a great stretch (and I never
knew anyone who went to sea, let alone came home from there, so I would
not have had much occasion for it!)
From: "jean fuller" <jfuller9@>
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I just really noticed this poem upon my third reading of a lovely book
by K.C.McKinnon - Dancing at the Harvest Moon. In the book it was
inscribed on the tombstone of a main character we only meet as a friend
of the main female character - This poem has so impressed me that I came
to this website to read it all. I have printed it out and will save
this printout in hopes that one of my children but probably my grand
daughter Casey will be touched by it too. She is quite a poet herself.
Thank you.
Jean Fuller (jfuller9@
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<DIV><FONT face"Arial size"2>I just really noticed this poem upon my
third
reading of a lovely book by K.C.McKinnon - Dancing at the Harvest
Moon. In
the book it was inscribed on the tombstone of a main character we only
meet as a
friend of the main female character - This poem has so impressed me that
I came
to this website to read it all. I have printed it out and will
save this
printout in hopes that one of my children but probably my grand daughter
Casey
will be touched by it too. She is quite a poet herself.
Thank
you.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face"Arial size"2>Jean Fuller (<A
href""mailto:jfuller9@">jfuller9@rochester.rr.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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