Henry James

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



Who comes to-night? We open the doors in vain.
Who comes? My bursting walls, can you contain
The presences that now together throng
Your narrow entry, as with flowers and song,
As with the air of life, the breath of talk?
Lo, how these fair immaculate women walk
Behind their jocund maker; and we see
Slighted De Mauves, and that far different she,
Gressie, the trivial sphynx; and to our feast
Daisy and Barb and Chancellor (she not least!)
With all their silken, all their airy kin,
Do like unbidden angels enter in.
But he, attended by these shining names,
Comes (best of all) himself—our welcome James.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 09, 2023

33 sec read
147

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGG
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 603
Words 110
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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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