Saturday 9 June 2012

Poetry Saturday . . . Wynken, Blynken, and Nod


Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
sailed off in a wooden shoe . . .
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
 "Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.


The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in the beautiful sea . . .
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish . . .
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

Source: flickr.com via Lygea on Pinterest


All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam . . .
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea . . .
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.


Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is the wee one's trundle bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
~Eugene Field

Source: google.co.nz via Mary on Pinterest


Eugene Field, Sr, (1850 - 1895)was an American write, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. Field was born in St. Louis, Missouri where today his boyhood home is open to the public as The Eugene Field House and St. Louis Toy Museum. After the death of his mother in 1856, he was raised by a cousin, Mary Field French, in Amherst, Massachusetts.



Field first started publishing poetry in 1879, when his poem "Christmas Treasures" appeared in A Little Book of Western Verse. Over a dozen volumes of poetry followed and he became well known for his light-hearted poems for children, perhaps the most famous of which is "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod." Field also published a number of short stories, including "The Holy Cross" and "Daniel and the Devil." The Dinky Bird by Maxfield Parrish, an illustration from Poems of Childhood by Eugene Field.

 Field died in Chicago of a heart attack at the age of 45. He is buried at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Kenilworth, Illinois. His 1901 biography by S. Thompson states that he was originally buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, but his son-in-law, Senior Warden of the Church of the Holy Comforter, had him reinterred on March 7, 1926.

Several of his poems were set to music with commercial success. Many of his works were accompanied by paintings from Maxfield Parrish. His former home in St. Louis is now a museum. A memorial to him, a statue of the "Dream Lady" from his poem "Rock-a-by-Lady", was erected in 1922 at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. There is also a park and fieldhouse named in his honor in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood. In nearby Oak Park, Illinois, another park is named in his honor. A statue of Wynken, Blynken and Nod adorns Washington Park, near Field's Denver home.

This was a poem I often read to my children when they were young, and one that was often read to myself . . . I really enjoyed learning more about it's author this morning.  How tragic that he died so suddenly and so young, but oh what he accomplished in the short time he was on this earth.  Truly amazing.  We should all be that talented!

And still the rain comes!  I do believe it has rained more in this last week than it had during the whole past winter!!  We will soon be developing webbed feet!  Our back garden is a squelching bog!  Mitzie doesn't like it when it's like this, as we won't let her back there to play.  It's just far too wet.



Here's a little something I did yesterday afternoon.  I spent the morning organizing my craft room, which left me free to do a little bit of art in the afternoon.  I hate cleaning my craft room.  I should just keep it tidy all the time, but when I get into a frenzie of creativity, I am like a little tornado . . .  a whirling dirvish!  This one I did with pencil crayons.  I quite like how it turned out.  I think it will make a nice card.

Oh, and here is something else I got up to yesterday . . .



Cooking in The English Kitchen today . . . Spiced Blueberry Scones.  Quite Delish!!

“Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!” 
~Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

Have a wonderful Saturday!  Dry or wet, cold or warm, wherever you are and whatever you are doing today, may it fill your hearts with joy!!


 

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