Lyric Poem · Nature

Farewell

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Reading room

1FAREWELL, and when forth

2I through the Golden Gates to Golden Isles

3Steer without smiling, through the sea of smiles,

4Isle upon isle, in the seas of the south,

5Isle upon island, sea upon sea,

6Why should I sail, why should the breeze?

7I have been young, and I have counted friends.

8A hopeless sail I spread, too late, too late.

9Why should I from isle to isle

10Sail, a hopeless sailor?

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“Farewell” by Robert Louis Stevenson — quilloak.com/poems/farewell

Quick facts

Poem: Farewell
Poet: Robert Louis Stevenson
Length: 10 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Friendship, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 10 lines · one 10-line stanza
Line length: Lines run 7-10 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

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Author record: Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894
Source record: PoetryDBFarewell by robert-louis-stevenson, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 59e905725320617e…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Friendship Short

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