Reading: Authors

Eugene Field: Whimsy in Poetry

 

            Timeless and beloved children's poetry comes from Eugene Field, a master of imagination, colorful language, and humorous, whimsical storytelling in rhyme.

 

            It is extremely important for children to play with language the way they play with all different kinds of toys. If child's play is preparation for adult life, then finding the wonder, beauty, pleasure and imagination-building power of language is a key aspect of childhood. Language play can be accomplished through poetry like Eugene Field's.

 

 

Field was extremely inventive. The witnesses to the night-long "fight" of stuffed animals in his classic, "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat," for example, were a collector's plate and an old mantel clock:

 

            (Now mind: I'm only telling you /

            What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

 

            (Don't fancy I exaggerate - /

            I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

 

            You can listen to this poem on this website:

 

http://www.reelyredd.com/1001duel.htm

 

His characters were colorful and memorable:

 

 

Field was famous for his imagination and for his whimsy, which means humorous and playful. In his mind, a wooden shoe becomes a flying boat in "Wynken, Blynken and Nod," and a special tree in "Shut-Eye Town" drops candy on good little children in "The Sugarplum Tree."

 

His stories were as beloved by artists as by children, as the unusual imagery made it possible for artists to create really wonderful illustrations. Here's a cover print of "Wynken, Blynken and Nod":

 

            Field's simple rhymes teach children that listening to stories is as enjoyable as listening to music. His excellent language declares that children are WORTH extra-special care in word selection.

 

But most of all, his imagination, whimsy and wonder elevate the child onto a new plane: stories like his, constructed of nothing but words, and which seem to come out of thin air, are toys for the mind.

 

He had some sadness and seriousness in his background, so it has been speculated that he turned to writing humor as an escape. He was born in St. Louis, where his original house is now a museum. His mother died when he was 6, though, so he moved to Massachusetts to be raised by a cousin.

 

Field's father, attorney Roswell Martin Field, was famous for his representation of Dred Scott, the slave who sued for his freedom in the famous U.S. Supreme Court case  that is sometimes called the lawsuit that started the Civil War.

 

His father died when Field was 19, and he went to a series of colleges, but dropped out, and became poor. He admitted that he was terrible at managing money, and always arranged for any money he made to be sent to his wife.

 

They had eight children, and it is suspected that many of his stories and poems were concocted to entertain his own kids.

 

Field wrote for adults, too, and wrote a famous poem about "Lovers Lane" in St. Joseph, Mo. He was a journalist in Kansas City, Denver and Chicago, among other places, and is credited with receiving the first "byline" on a news column in the country.

 

Here's an illustration for the poem

"The Dinky Bird" from Field's Poems of Childhood.

 

 

Field died in Chicago of a heart attack at age 45.