Poems, by Robert Louis Stevenson, hitherto unpublished/Of schooners, islands and maroons
OF SCHOONERS, ISLANDS AND MAROONS—1881
Although Treasure Island was not published in book form until 1883, Stevenson had well-nigh completed it during his residence at Braemar in 1881, and his letter of the 25th of August of that year, addressed to Henley and signed, "R. L. S., Author of Boy Stories," shows what fun he was having in the writing of this tale. "The Sea Cook, or Treasure Island, A Story for Boys," was the title Stevenson had in mind for the book that was the first to bring him fame; and he wrote to Henley: "If this don't fetch the kids, why, then, they have gone rotten since my day." It is that thought which underlies the present poem, written assuredly as a sort of rhymed preface for his "ripping" novel of adventure among the Buccaneers. If boys have grown too wise to care for treasure islands and derelict ships, for villainous mariners singing "Yo ho ho! and a bottle of rum," why then let the tale remain unread, beside the writings of Kingston and Ballantyne and "Cooper of the land and wave." (This, by the way, is the only reference in Stevenson's verses to Cooper.) But the budding romancer probably had no misgivings, and the young lad, Lloyd Osbourne, owing to whom the book was written, and who gave orders that no women were to appear in the story, was there to indicate by his enthusiasm the reception that Treasure Island was to receive from the youth of the world. Like so many others of his prefaces, whether in verse or in prose, this one was not used when the book was published; and its present first appearance in type is an especially interesting contribution to Stevenson literature.
It is worth adding, perhaps, that when Stevenson, writing from the "Schooner Equator, at sea, 190 miles off Samoa, Monday, December 2nd, 1889," gave his friend Colvin—later Sir Sidney—the plan of his proposed book, The South Seas, he began with the heading "Part I. General. Of Schooners, islands, and maroons"—that is, with the first line of this poem.
OF SCHOONERS, ISLANDS AND MAROONS
Of Schooners, Islands and Maroons,
And Buccaneers and Buried Gold,
And Torches red and rising moons,
If all the old romance retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of today—
So be it, and fall on! If not,—
If all the boys on better things
Have set their spirits and forgot—
So be it, and fall on! If not—
If all the boys on solid food
Have set their fancies, and forgot
Kingston and Ballantyne the brave
And Cooper of the land and wave,
So be it also; and may I
And my late-born piratic brood
Unread beside the ancients lie!
So be it and fall on! If not,—[1]
If studied youth no longer crave,—
Their ancients' appetites forgot,—
Kingston and Ballantyne the brave,
For Cooper of the sea and wood—
So be it also; and may I
And all my pirates share the grave
Where these and their creations lie.
- ↑ The following eight lines were evidently intended by Stevenson as alternatives for the eight preceding lines.