Lyric Poem · Peace

Sonnet I

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Reading room

1NOR judge me light, tho' light at times I seem,

2And lightly in the stress of fortune bear

3The innumerable flaws of changeful care -

4Nor judge me light for this, nor rashly deem

5(Office forbid to mortals, kept supreme

6And separate the prerogative of God!)

7That seaman idle who is borne abroad

8To the far haven by the favouring stream.

9Not he alone that to contrarious seas

10Opposes, all night long, the unwearied oar,

11Not he alone, by high success endeared,

12Shall reach the Port; but, winged, with some light breeze

13Shall they, with upright keels, pass in before

14Whom easy Taste, the golden pilot, steered.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“Sonnet I” by Robert Louis Stevenson — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-i

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet I
Poet: Robert Louis Stevenson
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace

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: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894
Source record: PoetryDBSonnet I 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 710e8dad337e99cc…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Peace

Sonnet I

Quick facts

How this poem works

A traceable edition

More poems like this

Envoy For "A Child's Garden Of Verses"

Flower God, God Of The Spring

God Gave To Me A Child In Part

Hail! Childish Slave Of Social Rules

If This Were Faith

Men Are Heaven's Piers