The Lamplighter Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Lamplighter

Rating: 3.1


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 teatime 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 round 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 oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!

The Lamplighter
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Zoya Vincent 07 October 2008

i dont have comments really but i want two ask u two questions 1 st pon the summary of the poem 2 nd one how old do u think is the boy? give reosons

1 12 Reply
Keith Landles 20 June 2016

Romaticism? Don't know anything about it. I do know however that RLS was a sickly child, often ill and therefore confined to his room and bed. I think the key to this poem is in the line But I, when I am stronger. The child is telling us that he is ill and that being so condemns him to a dreary, very lonely existence, with little humn comfort, so much so that the simple clip clop of the horse's shoes on the cobbles outside brings excitement in the knowledge that the lamplighter is coming. He yearns just to be noticed by another human being - to relieve his dreadful boredom - and that even a nod of acknowledgement from the leerie would bring him comfort. A brilliant sketch, in three short verses, of a very meaningful period in the life of RLS himself. magical and sad at the same time.

12 0 Reply
Fletcher Crombie 04 June 2018

Sorry, Keith, but lamplighters in 19th and the first half of the 20th century went on foot. No horses for them.

1 0
Avril M Sime 13 January 2019

Yes he was a sickly child but very much loved...and of course this is where he began his writing and where his imagination took flight and gave us so many classic and wonderful poems and stories..

0 0

this poem once appeared in my exams, and from then, i have always admired this poem.there are few memorable lines But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! and And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light; O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night! the poem rhymes, such a cute poem, the depiction of child in innocent.he chooses to light lamps than being a hotshot banker.

5 5 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 14 September 2024

Twice chosen by Poem Hunter and Team as The Modern Poem Of The Day. CONGRATULATIONS! Most deseerving and again TOP Marks! Thank you for sharing

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 15 September 2023

OK, I guess I can NOT send a message to Robert, ....wherever he may be. RIP.

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 15 September 2023

And, as a kid, and later a father, I've lived where Santa Claus (and his reindeer) and The Easter Bunny have visited once a year. : ) bri

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 15 September 2023

In my lifetime I've lived in houses to which coal (for my parents' furnace) , milk (for the household) , & washable diapers (for my daughter) have been delivered. : )

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 15 September 2023

***** FIVE STARS I think I've watched movies of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. bri : ) bri : )

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Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Edinburgh / Scotland
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