The shadow of Stevenson

The shadow of Stevenson

Sometimes in the past, a poet did not become known for his work as a poet. Instead, it was thanks to an entirely different literary legacy that made the poet famous. Robert Louis Stevenson was such a person. Think Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, to name just two of his works. Yet My Shadow is certainly not in the shadow (pun deliberately chosen) of these other literary highlights. Time, therefore, for Stevenson’s shadow.

Robert Louis Stevenson.
Robert Louis Stevenson.
Photo after an original of Wikimedia Commons.

Compare a bungalow with a luxury villa

You don’t. You don’t compare a bungalow with a luxury villa. Sure, they are both houses. That’s where the comparison ends, though. They are a different type of house, with completely different features. It would make more sense to compare two bungalows and two luxury villas. Therefore, comparing a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson, 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) with a book written by him is impractical and not at all logical.

Classics

Still, one cannot avoid naming the classics when it comes to Stevenson. After all, he is now known more for his books, than for his poems. Fans of poetry may react indignantly. There may have been insufficient search for good poems by Stevenson, or it may simply have to do with the fact that so little attention has been paid to these qualities of Stevenson.

Stevenson's life story

Precisely because of those qualities and the focus on them, this may make Stevenson’s life story a little more beautiful. Because it wasn’t always pretty. Stevenson suffered from health problems. At an early age, he was plagued by bronchitis. Others assume sarcoidosis or perhaps even an undetected tuberculosis infection. All this caused him to be described as a “weak child,” which is why it was better for him to be homeschooled. Instead of usual children’s books, he was read from the Bible. This seemed to have caused him to show little interest in reading. He did not learn that until the age of eight. From then on, it did not take long before he was able to write stories on his own, it was claimed. No evidence can be found about that.

His father had some concerns about continuing the family business. The business activities consisted of designing lighthouses. Indeed, it would later turn out that there was no future here for son dear. After the age of 18, he would not only change his name from Lewis to Louis. He would also change part of his surname. Thus Balfour would be dropped (1873) and later he would change his surname from Stevenson to Stevenson. This was actually during the period when he started working seriously as a writer.

One-sided love

The same year he began working seriously as a writer, he met Sidney Colvin and Frances “Fanny” Jane Sitwell. Colvin was a cousin of his and Sitwell was a 34-year-old woman he met thanks to Colvin. That became a one-sided love, with whom he would correspond for several years. It was this same Colvin who introduced him to other individuals within the British literary world. One of them was William Ernest Henley, whom Stevenson processed into a character in Treasure Island. The character in question was Long John Silver. Not without reason, as Henley himself had a wooden prosthetic leg. The friendship between the two would last until about 1888.

Fanny

By order of his doctors, Stevenson spent some time on the French Riviera following health problems. The warm climate was better for his health, but from 1874 he could simply be found on the British island again. France did remain attractive to him, as he returned with some regularity. The return to Britain was also related to the study of law that Stevenson would complete in 1875. Yet he would never avail himself of this study. He wanted to spend his life as a writer.

In the period following his recovery on the French Riviera, Stevenson instead chose other areas of France. Consider Grez-sur-Loing and Nemour in the Seine-et-Marne department. Barbizon in Grez-sur-Loing was home to more, mostly foreign, artists and writers. There, with Sir Walter Simpson, he met American Fanny Van de Gift Osbourne. She had moved to France with her children after a failed marriage and Van De Gift Osbourne herself wrote short stories. Especially for her, he wrote a short story (“One Falling in love”), which would later be published in The Cornhill Magazine. After a later visit in 1877, the two fell in love with each other. After her return to the United States a year later, Stevenson decided to follow her in 1879. The overland trip to California nearly caused his death. The journey took many times longer due to health problems, and thanks to the help of the now-divorced Fanny, they finally managed to reach San Francisco. The two married in 1880, despite an age difference of 11 years (he was 29, she 40).
A move to Scotland followed via San Francisco and then again to Dorset, England. There the Stevenson family lived in Skerryvore, named after a lighthouse once built by a Stevenson uncle. After 1887, Stevenson decided to return to the United States. The goal was to settle in Colorado. After 1888, Stevenson traveled to the Pacific region. Here he visited Hawaii, among other places, traveled to Tahiti, New Zealand and Samoa. He then arrived in Australia in 1890. He died in Samoa on Dec. 3, 1894, and accounts of his death are ambiguous. According to one story, while opening a bottle of wine, he asked his wife if his face looked strange, only to fall down. Other stories say it happened while preparing mayonnaise. At just 44 years old, Stevenson died of a stroke. He was buried on Mount Vaea. The stone at Stevenson’s tomb shows the following text:

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 the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

After Fanny’s death, the ashes of her remains were taken to Samoa by her daughter in 1914 and the ashes were interred next to Stevenson. There is a museum on the island in memory of Robert Louis Stevenson.
The poem was misinterpreted. The phrase Home is the sailor, home from the sea was not the correct rendering, as it should have been Home is the sailor, home from the sea. It is just not about this poem, as it is about My Shadow.

Curiosity

The poem reflects curiosity. Not just any curiosity. It is about a child’s curiosity. Besides curiosity, wonder plays a big role. In every way, it looks like this poem was written by a child. Just look at the way this poem is structured. Four stanzas, with four lines each. That may not even be surprising or an indication that it could have been written by a child. A clue that it could be is the rhyme scheme, aabb, ccdd and so on. A simple rhyme scheme. Now this is more common and adults follow such rhyme schemes as well. The playful tone also does not have to mean anything at all. All in all, though, it might make you doubt, when you know nothing about this poem.

Stevenson’s poem is indeed written from the perspective of a child. The child is fascinated by its own shadow. What child isn’t? When you start thinking carefully, this is also something to marvel at. Even when you are an adult. Let’s face it, shadows are something special. Especially when they belong to people or animals.
The shadow is a companion that goes with you. Everywhere and this evokes something. Besides a sense of wonder, this can also evoke a sense of mystery. Unlike a mirror image, a shadow behaves differently. The speed changes and so does the shape. Very different from a mirror image. Sometimes the shadow even disappears completely.

Literary techniques

In the poem, Stevenson used various literary techniques to emphasize childlike wonder.

Personification

The shadow comes to life and is a he. It looks like the child is being followed by him.

Simile

Continuing in the same way or comparing things. Especially the latter, because sometimes the shadow shoots up quickly. This shows the capriciousness of the shadow.

Repetition

Is it fair to argue this, for numerous poems lean on repetition? As such, Stevenson’s poem is not unique. In this case, it is the repeated simple phrases and structures, with a playful undertone. Indeed, childlike. Better perhaps: childishly simple. If you didn’t know better, you would label this poem as one written by a child.

Interpretation

How should we interpret this poem? Is this a paean to the delightful simplicity of how a child thinks and the imagination of curiosity? Or is there more to it? Is it an attempt to show us that these are tentative beginnings of a discovery of a world that may not be so innocent? A world that may have a dark edge. On the other hand, the latter need not be so, for the poem contains enough quips to negate that thought. Then it would indeed be about that wonderful, innocent childlike playfulness.

What Stevenson did here was a strong display of empathy. Stepping over a boundary as an adult. To make other adults think for a moment about what exactly was going on. To take a moment to think carefully or just let one’s imagination take over.

So, try to find your shadow!

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

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