Poems of Childhood

by Eugene Field

Children Poems by Eugene Field

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Reference

221 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1904

Reviews

[Jill H.]

This little book is one of the treasures of my childhood, along with A Child's Garden of Verses. I remember my parents reading this to me and I have continued to read it throughout my life. It contains such wonderful poems.....some of my favorites are: Wynken,Blynken and Nod, The Rock-A-By Lady, Seein' Things, and the one that always makes me get tears in my eyes, Little Boy Blue (not to be confused with Little Boy Blue come blow your horn). It is a joy to revisit these sweet and sometimes sad little verses and this book is a classic of childhood poetry. I highly recommend it for your children or for yourself.

[Manuel Alfonseca]

ENGLISH: 94 poems for and about children. Among my favorites are: "Pittypat and Typpytoe"; "Teeny-Weeny"; "The fire-hangbird's nest"; "The peace of Christmas-time"; "Cobbler and stork"; "Booh!"

Several (many) of these poems deal with the themes of little babies and lost (dead too soon) children. The most famous is "Little boy blue." Several of them are full of feeling. I also liked "The dead babe."

"Our whippings" is loaded with memories of whippings received while two brothers were boys. "To a usurper" is a moving poem about a father, his wife and his son. Will his son take his wife's love from him? Never!

"The duel" tells about a terrible fight between a gingham dog and a calico cat, witnessed by the Chinese plate and the Dutch clock.

"Seein' things" is an interesting poem about a child that sees bogeys from his bed after having been naughty.

I liked less those poems where the author writes as though he were a little child, with many spelling mistakes.

ESPAÑOL: 94 poemas para niños y sobre niños. Entre los que más me gustaron destacan los siguientes: "Pittypat and Typpytoe"; "Teeny-Weeny"; "La paz de la Navidad"; "Zapatero y cigüeña"; "¡Buuu!"

Varios de estos poemas tratan sobre niños muy pequeños y sobre niños perdidos (muertos prematuramente). El más famoso es "Little boy blue". Algunos rebosan sentimiento. "El bebé muerto" me gustó.

"Nuestras palizas" está lleno de recuerdos de los azotes que recibieron dos hermanos cuando eran niños. "A un usurpador" es un poema conmovedor sobre un padre, su esposa y su hijo. ¿Le arrebatará su hijo el amor de su esposa? ¡Jamás!

"El duelo" narra una terrible pelea entre un perro de tela a cuadros y un gato de popelín, presenciada por el plato chino y el reloj holandés.

"Viendo cosas" es un poema curioso sobre un niño que ve espectros desde su cama cuando se ha portado mal.

Me gustaron menos los poemas en los que el autor escribe como si fuera un niño, con muchas faltas de ortografía.

[Linda Lipko]

This was a lovely experience of reading older childhood poems that remain throughout the years. In particular, I liked Winken, Blynken, and Nod who sailed off one night in a wooden shoe, sailing in a river of crystal light, into a sea of dew.

The illustrations of noted Pre-Raphaelite painter Maxfield Parrish were beautifully used to accompany some of the most lovely of the selections.

[Shanshan]

We liked these poems. There were several that resonated with both mother and child. I used it as a source of nicknames for my son.

[Cynthia Egbert]

I love the essays of Eugene Field, they are so full of wry humor, but I am not such a big fan of these poems of childhood. These are largely dark and depressing and there is a lot of death and I am also not a fan of Maxfield Parrish's artwork. This is an important classic and I am glad I read it but I don't feel the need to ever spend much time in this part of Field's work.

[Shannon]

I enjoyed that many of the poems in this collection seemed to be really about something: something worth discussing. Many of the poems weren't just skillfully rhymed or just relatable to a child but actually required us to chew on them a bit. For example, one of my favorites--and one that stuck with my middle child enough for her to want to read and discuss it with Daddy--was about a poor person who lives down the road from a castle. I believe the poem is an apostrophe to a stork, complaining to the stork that his children will not have what the castle children will have. Then one of the rich castle children dies tragically, and the speaker, realizing "chance" can hit the other people just as hard as it hit him in the financial arena, comes to gratitude for what he has. Other poems involve grieving parents coming to some kind of understanding about their loss.

Most of the poems circle around the theme of nostalgia or the swift passage of time, with Field waxing eloquent about the long lost days of his youth, providing the benefit of his own hindsight to the children who may read the volume. This is all valuable, and overall I enjoyed most of the poems.

By the end, the same themes had been developed to the extent that I was a bit tired of them ("Oh gee, here's another poem about him remembering when his kids were little... let me guess, the last stanza will be about how time has flown, never to return....Yep"). And there are a LOT of poems in this volume. By the end, even my completionist self was getting antsy. The kids, though, didn't complain... and wondered why Mommy was always flipping ahead to count the number of poems left.

[Teresa]

The first Field poem I learned was "The Little Boy Blue," We had to memorize poems starting in the fourth grade. I picked that one.

It took me many years to find the book of poems here. But it has all my favorite.

Another poem I love ins "Jest for Christmas," and "The Sugar Plum Tree." Read them, they are cute.

[Alyssa Bohon]

A mixed bag with some gems and some that felt just a bit too maudlin. If the only Eugene Field you read is Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, you might have gotten the best there is - I see why that one is more popular than his others. Since I have a baby at the time of reading, I enjoyed the baby poems, and found names like Luddy Dud and Googly Goo very easy to come out of my mouth after reading them.

[Juli]

This is my favorite childhood book. not only are the poems fabulous, but the illustrations by the great Maxfield Parrish keep me coming back to this book. The book is a work of art.

[Scott DuJardin]

Although he is most well known as the author of the poem "Wynken, Blynkin and Nod", this should not be mistaken as a book of poems for children. Rather, it is (as the title infers) a book about childhood. There are poems that celebrate children, and poems that mourn their loss - so many that I had to look up childhood mortality rates. I knew it was higher then, but I had no ides by how much. This was first published in 1904. in 1900, 1 in 4 children died before the age of 5. 25% !!! (now it is about 7 in 1000 - less than 1%). That explains the number of poems about losing a child. They are heartbreakingly sad while also being hopeful.
These poems are also a window into an earlier time - it is obvious that they are of another time, although the sentiments are still relevant. Then there a few poems - my favorites - that talk to childhood as a contrast to old age and/or which chart the entire story of a life.
My favorite: "Over The Hills and Far Away".

[ML]

Silly words predated Dr. Seuss. Showed great love for his children.

[Nancy Chambers]

Still love these poems even as an adult.

[Jobiska (Cindy)]

Definitely right to call this "Poems OF CHILDHOOD" rather than poems for children, because the former is more correct. Although there are a few well-known pieces in here,that are often in other anthologies (Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, and The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat), a huge percentage of the others are more musings of an older person about his own childhood, about dead children, or about children in his life. So definitely don't acquire this expecting that it will appeal to a broad variety of children.

[David]

This book wasn't so fun because I had just lost my blanket.

Mom's note: Eugene Field is a wonderful poet. He wrote "Winken, Blinken, and Nod" and many other old poems. This particular book is illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, who happens to be one of my absolute favorite artists. Truly, I only found about 3 delightful poems in this collection, and quite a few good ones. I give this book 4 stars.

[Someone Youmayknow]

THE most perfect book of poetry. Not just for children although it was introduced to me as a child by my most imperfect father. The art is amazing the poetry substantial.
This book is the reason that I am a bibliophile and not just a reader.

[Shannon]

I love this poetry book. I've had it since I was a baby and I still love reading the poems...they bring back fond childhood memories. Plus, I just realized that my version of the book is from 1922!

[Carly]

My favorite book growing up, my favorite poem in the book, The Lollipop Tree.

[Susan]

One of my favorite poems is "Wynken, Blyken and Nod" by Eugene Field

[Jacqueline]

Poems of Childhood has timeless poetry for children with classic illustrations by Maxfield Parrish.

[Rachel]

Poems to be read over and over. These always make me cherish my little guys all the more.