Robert Louis Stevenson - Requiem

Hi everyone,

UPDATE regarding his health: (quote from Wikipedia)
Contemporary views were that he had tuberculosis, but more recent views are that it was bronchiectasis or even sarcoidosis.

The point is, he had poor health throughout his life.

For anyone still confused on exactly what defines an 'epitaphic fiction':

"Dr. Johnson understood that words on headstones provide cover stories. Acts of make-believe inscribed in stone may be as banal as an incorrect—or fudged—year of birth; the phrase “In Loving Memory” must be a fiction much of the time. On the other hand, great writers have composed words for headstones, real and imaginary, that offer us complex fictions in which we may dwell, as if in compensation for loss. For such writers, good grief is infused with imagination."

In 'Robert Louis Stevenson: The Critical Heritage' the author tells us that a poet by the name of Robert Herrick is likely to have been the inspiration for Stevenson's Underwoods anthology, but this claim is solely based on the similarities of style between Herrick and Stevenson.  In the opening page of Stevenson's anthology, he admits Underwoods as a title is 'stolen' from Ben Jonson.  It turns out Herrick was heavily influenced by Jonson, so commenting on this in an essay would likely end in a hair-splitting debate.  Interesting to know, but I think Cambridge will be more interested in what is symbolised by Stevenson's use of the stolen title: that "Stevenson is suggesting that his poems too are a varied collection and less important than his prose works, yet at the same time he is presenting himself, like Jonson, as an all-round literary writer."

For your interest, here's a brief history of the poem's origin.

Look up and balance together the various meanings of the word 'requiem'.  I think all are applicable, especially considering the lyric feel of the poem and the poet's history of writing lyrical verse.

Focus on the largely monotone diction, and make an exhaustive exploration of structure.  This should include rhyming pattern, repetition, physical layout, and contrast.

Contrast is listed with the above due to the structural aspects it encompasses, but don't limit it to that. Explore the final two lines as well as comparing the 4th and 8th lines. Compare emotions and actions, meaning and use of repeating words, occupations, settings and sounds.

Have fun.  :)


- T. Marcus