What does "as me" mean here?

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fall on =?

Context:

If sailor tales to sailor tunes, Storm and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and maroons, And buccaneers, and buried gold, And 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 studious youth no longer crave, His ancient appetites forgot, Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave: So be it, also! And may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these and their creations lie!

More:

http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/treasure-island/

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 632 • Replies: 11

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It's just a poetic usage--"as they pleased me of old."

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

It's just a poetic usage--"as they pleased me of old."

Thank you.

PS. fall on =?

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Fall on=have at it, do it . . .

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Fall on=have at it, do it . . .

Thanks.

Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave

Three persons or just one?

What relationship is shared among them?

3 Replies

I suspect they're not the same, and see no reason to assume that. However, i did not write that pallid tripe, so i can't answer to a certainty.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I suspect they're not the same, and see no reason to assume that. However, i did not write that pallid tripe, so i can't answer to a certainty.

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't know the true meaning of the line. Very Happy

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Setanta wrote:

Fall on=have at it, do it . . .

Thanks.

Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave

Three persons or just one?

What relationship is shared among them?

They are all 19th century writers - authors of boy's adventure stories. William Henry Giles Kingston, Robert Michael Ballantyne, George Fenimore Cooper. The poem is by Robert Louis Stevenson and is called "To the Hesitating Purchaser". It introduces his "Treasure Island", which he hoped would be enjoyed by fans of the type of literature produced by -- among others -- those three authors. This is what the poem is about.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

fall on =?

Context:

If sailor tales to sailor tunes, Storm and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and maroons, And buccaneers, and buried gold, And 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 studious youth no longer crave, His ancient appetites forgot, Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave: So be it, also! And may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these and their creations lie!

More:

http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/treasure-island/

Can please the more sophisticated youngsters of today as much as they did me when I was young (it is implied that young readers were were easier to please when the author was young than the same young readers are at the time when he is writing this commentary.)

"Fall on"....so be it, if the young of the day no longer appreciate the stories, then the author lies buried with his creations, and with the creations of other writers of his day. A fate he seems to view with some philosophy, albeit with sadness.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Setanta wrote:

Fall on=have at it, do it . . .

Thanks.

Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave

Three persons or just one?

What relationship is shared among them?

I believe they are writers of the same vintage as Robert Louis Stevenson......he is saying if they no longer please contemporary youth, so be it...they will die with pride in their creations, as their creations die.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Giles_Kingston

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Michael_Ballantyne

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/136268/James-Fenimore-Cooper

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@oristarA,

Three different people.

I suspect they were adventurers or explorers, whose exploits have been written into literature.

The style of this piece is very old-fashioned, 18th c or early 19th at a guess. But probably written later, copying the older style.

EDIT: Damn. I didn't read to the bottom. Sorry for superfluity.

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@Setanta,

http://robert-louis-stevenson.classic-literature.co.uk/treasure-island/

Quote:

i did not write that pallid tripe

In,

http://able2know.org/topic/175219-1

Setanta said: " I have a copy of Treasure Island . . . around here somewhere."

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What does "as me" mean here?

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