Analysis of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)



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 the 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 folk 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.


Scheme ababcdcddeEF gbgbcdcddEEF bhbhididdEEF jkjkldlddEEF
Poetic Form
Metre 110111 1100101 110101101 010111 1111001111 011101 1111110101 11011001 11100111 11 1 01 01110101 11100101 001111111 100111 010100101 11001001 111101011 100111 1101101001 1 1 01 1111111 101001001 1110110101 1001001 111100111 111111 011110111 11011001 1111101001 1 1 01 10111101 0110101 001011101 1011101 11111101 1100111 011101001 11100101 1011101001 1 1 01
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,369
Words 269
Sentences 10
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 12, 12, 12, 12
Lines Amount 48
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 267
Words per stanza (avg) 65
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

1:20 min read
500

Eugene Field

Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. more…

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