Analysis of I Do Not Fear To Own Me Kin

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



I DO not fear to own me kin
To the glad clods in which spring flowers begin;
Or to my brothers, the great trees,
That speak with pleasant voices in the breeze,
Loud talkers with the winds that pass;
Or to my sister, the deep grass.

Of such I am, of such my body is,
That thrills to reach its lips to kiss.
That gives and takes with wind and sun and rain
And feels keen pleasure to the point of pain.

Of such are these,
The brotherhood of stalwart trees,
The humble family of flowers,
That make a light of shadowy bowers
Or star the edges of the bent:
They give and take sweet colour and sweet scent;
They joy to shed themselves abroad;
And tree and flower and grass and sod
Thrill and leap and live and sing
With silent voices in the Spring.

Hence I not fear to yield my breath,
Since all is still unchanged by death;
Since in some pleasant valley I may be,
Clod beside clod, or tree by tree,
Long ages hence, with her I love this hour;
And feel a lively joy to share
With her the sun and rain and air,
To taste her quiet neighbourhood
As the dumb things of field and wood,
The clod, the tree, and starry flower,
Alone of all things have the power.


Scheme AABBCC XXDD BBEEFFXXGG HHIIJKKFXJJ
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 10110111001 11110011 1111010001 11010111 11110011 1111111101 11111111 1101110101 0111010111 1111 0101101 010100110 1101110010 11010101 110111011 11110101 010100101 1010101 11010001 11111111 11110111 1011010111 10111111 11011011110 01010111 10010101 110101 10111101 010101010 011111010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,126
Words 229
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 4, 10, 11
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 223
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:08 min read
106

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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