Robert Louis Stevenson, an Elegy; and Other Poems

Grief for a writer becomes a meditation on what words can preserve in Richard Le Gallienne's tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson. The opening elegy pictures Stevenson's grave above the Pacific, recalls his Scottish identity, and turns to ships, islands and hidden treasure to express loss. Its questions about memory and lasting fame lead into praise for the careful craft of writing, suggesting that a book can keep a voice present after its author has died.

The surrounding poems move between public homage and personal feeling. Spring birds, a great old tree, imagined islands and scenes of London provide settings for reflections on affection, faith and sorrow. Short religious lyrics find signs of belief in ordinary sights and sounds, while the poem for Jenny gives grief a quieter, more intimate shape. Readers interested in nineteenth-century verse can follow how Le Gallienne connects natural beauty with remembrance and spiritual hope.