The Lamplighter By Robert Louis Stevenson

The poet Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish Novelist, a travel writer and a poet.

His noted works are 'Treasure Island'. 'Kidnapped', 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and 'A child's Garden of Verses'.

He was born on 13th November, 1850 in Scotland and died at the early age of forty-four on 3rd December, 1894 in Samoa.

He studied in best of the schools in Edinburgh and completed his education from the University of Edinburgh.

The interesting fact about the author R. L. Stevenson who wrote 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' was that, the story idea came to him in a dream. Another fact relating to this story was that, he destroyed the first draft of the story but later on he re-wrote it from the scratch.

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;

It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by,

For every night at tea-time and before you take your seat,

With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,

And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;

But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,

O Leerie, I'll go around at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door;

And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;

And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,

O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Introduction The Lamplighter is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson which was published in 1885 The poem can be found in a book called A Child s Garden of Verses The speaker in the poem makes his desire for adventure and seeks and escapes from the regularity of his life Sometimes it is marked as an auto biographical poem The childhood and its feeling is represented in the poem Summary Line 1 to 4 In the first line it is evening time and the poet says that his tea is ready and sun has already gone down making the earth fall into darkness And now the little poet will come near the window to see ...

1.
Why does the boy consider himself lucky?
2.
What does he request of Leerie?
3.
Explain, 'see a little child and nod to him tonight'.
4.
What does 'he comes posting up' mean.
5.
Complete the summary of the poem with appropriate words or phrases from the poem.
The poet says that everyday as he has his tea, he sits at the window looking out. He sees Leerie, the lamplighter, _______1_______. He usually has a ______2_____ and a ladder. Watching him go by the poet thinks ______3______. He knows that Tom wants to ______4______ and Maria _____6_____. Although his father is a ______7______ he would like to choose a different profession. When he grows up and is _______8______, he would love to ______9______ and ______10_____ with Leerie.
6.
Make sentences with the following.
1. take the window
2. hurry by

2 more answer(s) available.

Friday Afternoon Composition and Comprehension

Radha Kunjappa - Oxford University Press

Chapters

The Lamplighter

Robert Louis Stevenson

Available Answers