"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" is a poem for children written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889.[citation needed] The original title was "Dutch Lullaby". The poem is a fantasy bed-time story about three children sailing and fishing among the stars from a boat which is a wooden shoe. The names suggest a sleepy child's blinking eyes and nodding head. The spelling of the names, and the "wooden shoe," suggest Dutch language and names, as hinted in the original title.
Text
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 that beautiful sea —
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish —
never afraid are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
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 a 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.
Musical adaptations
By 1890, the lyrics had been set to music, by American pianist and composer Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin. Dan Hornsby recorded this song for Victor BS-037380 RCA (BlueBird) Records released in 1929. David Gude performed the song on his 1961 Vanguard album New Folks.[2]
Tatiana Cameron sings her version on her lullaby album A Chance to Dream (2006).
David Tamulevich (of the folk duo Mustard's Retreat) wrote new original music to the poem, which was subsequently released in 2011 on the Mustard's Retreat CD Living in the Dream. (2011)
Composer Christopher Klaich composed a contemporary lullaby concert setting for soprano Bianca Showalter which has piano or alternatively chamber orchestral accompaniment (circa 2013).
Composer Stephen DeCesare composed an SATB version of the poem, (2013).
Valentine Wolfe released a heavy metal version in their album A Child's Bestiary, (2016).[12]
In the 1993 film Dennis the Menace, Mrs. Wilson recites "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" to Dennis when she puts him to bed after babysitting him for the day. While she recites the poem, Dennis's parents: Henry and Alice, both of whom are away on business, think about their family from their respective hotel rooms, and the camera focuses on each one of them at the end of the poem, symbolizing Alice as Wynken, Henry as Blynken, and Dennis as Nod. [17]
In 2007, an animated film based on the poem was released by Weston Woods Studios.
In the 2016-2019 series Preacher, DeBlanc sings "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" to Genesis in an attempt to coax it out of Jesse Custer and back into an empty can of ‘Old Timer’ brand coffee.[18]
Notes
^Mabel Landrum's original sculpture was exhibited to critical acclaim at the Art Institute of Chicago. Denver Mayor Robert W. Speer commissioned a marble version in 1918, and a bronze copy is a fountain on the Green in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, dedicated on September 23, 1938.
