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.

 

            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!)

 

            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."

 

            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.