What does the poem Summer Sun" by Robert Louis Stevenson really mean?"
"Summer Sun" is a perfect example of the use of a literary technique called "personification," in which a poet's words bring an inanimate object to life. In the poem, we can imagine the sun as a sort of big, cheerful, oaf of a fellow, who is always barging in. He seems to mean well, and is a likeable sort of guy, so we gladly put up with him. Indeed, we thoroughly enjoy his sparkling personality!
"Summer Sun" is included in Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson's collection of poems for children, "A Children's Garden of Verses," written in 1885.
Summer Sun
GREAT is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven without repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.
Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.
The dusty attic, spider-clad,
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.
Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.
Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.