Audiobook · read by volunteers
Love-Songs of Childhood
Eugene Field (1850–1895)
Read by Squid Varilekova · 43 chapters · 1 h 35
About the book
Eugene Field was known in his day as the poet of childhood, and this collection shows why. Here are lullabies and nursery ballads, comic duels and tender goodnights, verses about dolls, toys, sleep and make-believe that were written for children but cherished by parents too. The book opens with a piece addressed to Mrs. Belle Angler and moves through forty-three short pieces, from the sing-song humour of The Duel to the soft cradle music of The Rock-A-By Lady. Field’s verse is full of make-believe, vivid pictures and ingenious rhymes, and, in some pieces, a quiet Christian feeling. Squid Varilekova reads the whole collection. At around an hour and a half, it is ideal for the end of the day, for a car journey or for any time when you or a young listener want to enter a world of soft light and silly rhymes.
Introduction
Eugene Field was born in 1850 and died in 1895. He was an American writer, a newspaper columnist and a poet, and he became a popular figure in the Midwest and well beyond. He is remembered above all for his poems about children, some of which were set to music and learned by heart for generations.
Love-Songs of Childhood appeared in 1894. It contains verse for young and old, full of make-believe, vivid pictures and clever rhymes. Field was himself a devout Christian, and religious feeling runs quietly through a number of the poems, though it never overwhelms their playfulness. Titles such as The Duel and The Rock-A-By Lady have kept their place in anthologies of children’s verse.
Poetry for children in this period often combines sentiment with humour, and Field is a good example. His poems can be very tender, and they often speak to the adults who are reading them as much as to the children who listen. There is nostalgia here for a world of toys and cradles, and sometimes a touch of the sadness that comes with it. Some pieces will sound old-fashioned to modern ears.
This LibriVox recording has forty-three short sections, including a dedication, and lasts about an hour and a half. It is read by volunteer Squid Varilekova. It is perfect for those who love classic children’s poetry, for bedtime reading and for anyone who enjoys the music of old-fashioned rhymes.
Public domain
Eugene Field died in 1895: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text