Analysis of My Bed is a Boat

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



My bed is like a little boat;
Nurse helps me in when I embark;
She girds me in my sailor's coat
And starts me in the dark.

At night I go on board and say
Good-night to all my friends on shore;
I shut my eyes and sail away
And see and hear no more.

And sometimes things to bed I take,
As prudent sailors have to do;
Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake,
Perhaps a toy or two.

All night across the dark we steer;
But when the day returns at last,
Safe in my room beside the pier,
I find my vessel fast.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Quatrain 
Metre 11110101 11101101 11101101 011001 11111101 11111111 11110101 010111 00111111 11010111 01011101 010111 11010111 11010111 10110101 111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 503
Words 106
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 94
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

32 sec read
811

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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