Analysis of The Lamplighter

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



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!


Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11110100011101 1111010111101 11001110011111 11001101110101 11110100010111 0110100111111 11111100111111 1111111010111 11110101010101 0111111111101 01011101110011 1110101011111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 655
Words 141
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 42
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 166
Words per stanza (avg) 46
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

43 sec read
402

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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