The Lamplighter Lyrics
At teatime a child waits at the window for Leerie, who comes up the street each evening with a lantern and a ladder. The child plans to light the lamps too, and asks for one nod. Stevenson's twelve lines make three verses.
The Lamplighter
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-lamplighter/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Tune
- Read steadily, with a rising voice for the last line, as if calling out of the window
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does The Lamplighter Mean?
The first verse sets the scene. Tea is nearly ready, the sun has gone, and "it's time to take the window", which means to go and stand there, to see Leerie going by. Leerie is a Scots word for the lamplighter, the person who went down each street at dusk with a ladder to light the lamps. He "comes posting up the street": posting means hurrying.
The second verse is the child's plan. Tom wants to be a driver, Maria wants to go to sea, and the speaker's papa is a banker who is "as rich as he can be". But the speaker, when stronger and old enough to choose, will "go round at night and light the lamps" with Leerie. Being a lamplighter looks better than any of those jobs.
In the last verse the child speaks straight to Leerie. The family is lucky, because there is a lamp outside the door, and Leerie stops there to light it. The only thing asked in return is small: when he hurries by, he should look at a little child and nod to him tonight.
The pairs of lines rhyme, with sky and by, seat and street, sea and be, do and you, door and more, and light and tonight.
History and Origin
Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, and the poem appeared in his children's book of 1885. When the book appeared, many streets were lit by lamps that someone lit by hand every evening, which is why a lamplighter with a ladder and lantern was a familiar sight to children watching from a window. Electric street lights later made the job disappear.
Learning Activities
- Dusk walk: go outside as the street lights come on and guess which lamp will light first.
- What will you be? ask each child what they want to be when they are older, as Tom, Maria and the speaker do, and draw it.
- Lantern and ladder: draw Leerie with his ladder, his lantern and a long line of lamps.
- The nod: practise nodding at someone across the room, and talk about why a small greeting can matter.