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 Eugene Field


  • Nam
    Mar 13 1:20 PM 2007
    Reply
    I do not believe the first couple of lines of Eugene Field's biography (on this website) is true. Meaning: I don't believe he wrote just children's poetry. I've read quite a few poems by him that would make one think differently.

    Especially this one: which, you do not have.


    HEINE'S "WIDOW OR DAUGHTER?"


    Shall I woo the one or other?
    Both attract me—more's the pity!
    Pretty is the widowed mother,
    And the daughter, too, is pretty.

    When I see that maiden shrinking,
    By the gods I swear I'll get 'er!
    But anon I fall to thinking
    That the mother 'll suit me better!

    So, like any idiot ass
    Hungry for the fragrant fodder,
    Placed between two bales of grass,
    Lo, I doubt, delay, and dodder!


    --

    Though the main character is quite juvenile in the way he appears to be trying to choose over which one he wants to be with: the mother or dauthor (or both) clearly one can see this is not a "children's poem". The character by emotion alone is adolescent but doesn't make the poem a "children's" poem.

    Petroleum

  • mermaid7
    March 17, 2007
    Reply
    Plead on, O bells, that thy sweet voice/May still forever be/An intercession to rejoice/
    Benign divinity;/And that thy tuneful grace may fall/Like dew, a quickening balm,/Upon the arid hearts of all,/O bells of Notre Dame!

    This is the last stanza from "O Bells of Notre Dame. Petroleum, I just did a quick search, and you are correct--Field was quite diverse in his writing. I hoped you enjoyed reading the biography, and thanks for pointing this information out. Correction has been made, and the lyrics you mentioned have been added to Field's page.

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