ABSTRACT
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94), classic novelist, poet, travel writer and essayist, is acknowledged as having had a significant influence on the development of children's literature. His body of work covers the major genres of writing of the nineteenth century (adventure, historical, horror, travel, poetry). His novels, Treasure Island , Kidnapped and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde continue to be read by young readers in various forms and have inspired many film adaptations, including Muppet Treasure Island and, most recently, Walt Disney's Treasure Planet. His collection of poetry, A Child's Garden of Verses, first published in 1885, is as fresh and appealing today and has never been out of print. Morag Styles pays tribute to his contribution to the genre in her history of children's poetry, From the Garden to the Street (1998): ‘Robert Louis Stevenson is the single poet who gets a Chapter to himself in this book, despite writing only one volume of verse for children. The reason for privileging Stevenson in this way is the belief that A Child's Garden of Verses is ‘a pivotal collection which changed for ever how children could be written for and about in poetry’ (p. 170).
