Winter in Western Australia can bring some beautiful clear sunny blue sky days, and so it was on Sunday afternoon when we took our grandsons down to the playground along Koombana Bay in Bunbury. This playground opened in early 2018 and since then has been very popular with families and a great place for picnics along the sheltered shores of this family friendly safe beach.
While we were there a girl was swinging on one of the swings, and it brought to mind a song I used to sing as a child when I was swinging on our back yard swing. My Dad had built us the swing attached to the side of his shed. And I used to try and swing so high that my feet would be level with the roof of the shed. A bit like what this girl in the photo below appeared to be doing. Watching her took me back to those years.
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air and over the wall,
Since then the book has been illustrated many times. One of the earliest illustrated editions was in 1905, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, it had a coloured illustrated title page and 12 full page colour plates, plus line drawings throughout.
How glorious are these illustrations! I cannot confirm if the line drawing below is by Jessie Willcox Smith, but the colour illustration are.
While we were there a girl was swinging on one of the swings, and it brought to mind a song I used to sing as a child when I was swinging on our back yard swing. My Dad had built us the swing attached to the side of his shed. And I used to try and swing so high that my feet would be level with the roof of the shed. A bit like what this girl in the photo below appeared to be doing. Watching her took me back to those years.
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
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| The swing tree |
After I came home I searched on the net for the words to the poem (though I knew it as a song) and discovered that the poem was written by Robert Louis Stevenson. I only knew of his works Treasure Island (which we had studied as a novel in first year high-school), and Kidnapped. I don't know if I really enjoyed reading about the adventures of Jim with the pirate Long John SIlver, but study it I did, and I still have my copy of this book.
I didn't know until yesterday that Robert Louis Stevenson had also written children's verse. First editions can still be purchased.
" First published in 1885, the first printing of A Child's Garden of Verses ran 1000 copies by Longhaus, Green and Co in London. This book was not illustrated until the 1896 edition, published 2 years after Stevenson's death. The collection contains about 65 poems, and many of the poems, including “The Land of Counterpane,” take a positive perspective on Stevenson's own childhood which was plagued by sickness. He dedicated the work to his nurse Alison Cunningham.
Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, musician and travel writer. (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) Although he died at just forty four years old and suffered from ill health the majority of his life he managed to travel and write extensively in that short period. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses."
biblio.com.au
Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, musician and travel writer. (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) Although he died at just forty four years old and suffered from ill health the majority of his life he managed to travel and write extensively in that short period. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses."
biblio.com.au
How glorious are these illustrations! I cannot confirm if the line drawing below is by Jessie Willcox Smith, but the colour illustration are.
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| Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith |
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Clicking on the link will take you to a selection of the poems. A Child's Garden of Verse
And to finish a quote from the man himself -
I couldn't find on You Tube the version of the "song" that I knew, but I rather like this version - with music by Linda Trillhaase
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