LULLABIES AND BABY SONGS

Transcription

1 J& LULLABIES AND BABY SONGS The history of poetry written for children beglns in oral tradition: in lullabies, and in the scraps of verse that parents have used since time immemorial with their babies and young children. Lullables are sleep songs. They are among the oldest verse lorms known, and generally the first introductions newborns have to words and music. According to research done by the psychologist Sandra Trehub, lullabies are stable across time and culture, and are instantly recognizable in experiments in which adult subjects are asked to distinguish them from other, similar melodies. The subjects immediately identified characteristic simple pitch contours (i.e., distances between notes), repeated rhythms, and elongated vowels. Trehub's experiments also prove that infants demonstrate a marked preference for lullabies over other t;,pes of songs. Although lullabies soothe and comfort, their Ilrics are often threatening. In No Go the Bogeymam: Scari.mg, Lulling and. Making Mock (1999), Nlarina Warner erplains that "lullabies dip infants prophylactically in the imaginary future of ordeals and perils; nightmares are uttered in order to chase them from the impending dreamworld-a manoeuwe akin to a blessing in the form of a curse: as in 'Break a leg."' In the lullabies selected for this section, the balance between harshness and sentimentality changes depending on time and culture. Those authored lullabies from the late nineteenth century for example, tend to reflect a sentimental attitude toward children that is typical of the period. The section begins with four variants of a Iullaby usually known as "AIl the Pretty Little Horses," which comes from the African American tradition. In later versions, such as "Go to Sleepy, Little Baby," the bleak realities of slave life-in which a woman must care for her mistress's child rather than her own-are softened or erased altogether. Other traditional lullabies follow; most were first published in the eighteenth or nineteenth century and most are from England. The section ends with poems to which (unlike most lullabies) an author's name can be attached. "Lullaby of a Female Convict" by Henry Kirke White, a Romantic poet who died very young, uses the lullaby form to tell a dramatic story. The lullabies by Robert Ellice Mack ("The Little Orphan" and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep") and Eugene Field ("Wynken, Blynken, and Nod") cater to the nineteenth-century preference for sentimental images of innocent children.

2 All the Pretty Little Horses Hush-a-bye don't you cry go to sleep you little baby When you wake you shall have all the pretty little horses Blacks and bays, dapples and grays, coach and six-a little horses. Hush-a-bye don't you cry go to sleep you little baby, Way down yonder in the meadow lays a poor little lambie The bees and the butterflies peckin'out his eyes The poor little thing cries 'Mammy'. Go to Sleepy, Little Baby Go to sleepy, little baby, Go to sleepy, little baby. Mammy and daddy have both gone away And left nobody for to mind you. So rockaby, And don't you cry. And go to sleepy, little baby. And when you wake You can ride All the pretty little ponies. Paint and bay, Sorrel and a gray, And all the pretty little ponies. So go to sleepy, little baby. Rockaby And don't you cry And go to sleep, my baby. [A Baby Song] Go to sleep, little baby, When you wake You shall have Nl the mulies in the stable. Buzzards and flies Picking out its eyes, Pore little baby crying, Matnnoa, tnananca! Rocky Bye Baby Roclq, bye baby, go to sleepy little baby When you wake I'm gonna cook you a cake And a whole stew with potatoes Rocky bye baby, go to sleepy little baby Mama's gone away (off) and papa's on a stroll And they left nobody here to hold you Black sheep, black sheep, where's your mama (mammy) She way down yonder in the valley The birds and the flies are peckin'in his eyes And the poor little baby cryin'mammy (mama) [Bye, O my baby] Bye, O my baby, Whenlwasalady, O then my baby didn't cry; But my baby is weeping For want of good keeping, O I fear my poor baby will die. LutLesrrs eno Benv Sorvcs

3 fbaby, baby, naughty baby] Baby, baby, naughty baby, Hush, you squalling thing, I say. Peace this moment, peace, or maybe Bonaparter will pass this way. IBye, baby bunting] Bye, baby bunting,3 Daddy's gone a-hunting, Gone to get a rabbit skin To wrap the baby bunting in. Baby, baby, he's a giant, Tall and black as Rouen2 steeple, And he breakfasts, dines, rely on't, Every day on naughty people. Baby, baby, if he hears you, As he gallops past the house, Limb from limb at once he'll tear you, Just as pussy tears a mouse. And he'll beat you, beat you, bear you. And he'll beat you all to pap, And he'll eat you, eat you, eat you, Every morsel snap, snap, snap. fbaby and I] Baby and I Were baked in a pie, The grar,y was wonderful hot. We had nothing to pay To the baker that day And so we crept out of the pot. IHush-a-bye, baby] [Hush-a-ba, babie, lie still, lie still] Hush-a-ba, babie, lie still, lie still, Your mammie's awa to the mill, the mill; Babie is greetinga for want of good keeping- Hush-a-ba, babie, lie still, lie still! fhush-a-bye, lie still and sleep] Hush-a-bye, lie still and sleep, It grieves me sore to see thee weep, For when lhou weep'st thou wearies me, Hush-a-bye, lie still and bye. Hush-a-bye. baby. Daddy is near, Mammy's a lady, And that's very clear. 1. Napol6on Bonaparte ( ), who cromed himself emperor of France in His attempts to win a larger European empire (until his defeat by the British in t at the Battle of Waterloo) made him a bogeyman of the British nursery. 2. A city in northern France, home to a thirteenth-centurv cat hedral. 3. A term of endearment; also a blanket in which infants are wrapped. 4. Crying. 1134

4 iadle Song Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock; When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, 'r$" Down will come baby and cradle and all. IHush-a-bye a baa-lamb] Hush-a-bye a baa-lamb, Hush-a-bye a milk cow, We'll find a little stick To beat the barking bow-wow INorwegian Lullaby]' Baby,lullaby! If thou wilt but sleep and mind me, Then a sweet cake I will find thee If there be no cake at hand, I will let the cradle stand, Let the baby cry! Raisins and Almonds Yidd.ish lwlla.lry Under Baby's cradle in the night Stands a goat so soft and snowy white The Goat will go to the market To bring you wonderful treats He'll bring you raisins and almonds Sleep, my little one, sleep. Guardian angels God will send thee, AII through the night Soft the drowsy hours are creeping Hill and vale in slumber sleeping, I my loving vigil keeping Nl through the night. While the moon her watch is keeping All through the night While the weary world is sleeping AJI through the night O'er they spirit gently stealing Visions of delight revealing Breathes a pure and holy feeling All through the night. Love, to thee my thoughts are turning All through the night All for thee my heart is yearning. AII through the night. Though sad fate our lives may sever Parting will not last forevee There's a hope that leaves me never, All through the night. t784 fhe'll toil for thee the whole day long] He'll toil for thee the whole day long, And when the weary work is o'er, He'll whistle thee a merry song, And drive the bogies from the door. All through the Night Welskfolk song Sleep my child and peace attend thee, All through the night 5. Translated byalma Strettel (fl i2).

5 The Little Orphan by Robert Elliceu Lie still mv pretty one, Lie still and rest, You shall be snug and warm, You are quite safe from harm, Safe on my breast. Though you are motherless, Though you are lone, I will be kind to you, Temper the wind to you, Pretty, my own. Lie still my pretty one, Lie still and rest, You shall no longer roam, You shall be safe at home, Safe on my breast. Poor wapvard wretchl and who will heed they weeping, When soon an outcast on the world thou'lt be? Who then will sooth thee, when thy mother's sleeping In her low grave of shame and infamy! Sleep, babv mine!-to-morrow I must leave thee, And I would snatch an interval of rest: Sleep these last moments, ere the laws bereave thee, For never more thou'lt press a mother's breast. I ,1 Lullaby of a Female Convict to Her Child, the Night Previous to Execution by Henry Kirke White' Sleep, baby mine,s enkerchieft on my bosom; Thy cries they pierce again my bleeding breast; Sleep, Babv mine, not long thou'lt have a mother To lull thee fondly in her arms to rest. Baby, why dost thou keep this sad complaining? Long from mine eyes have kindly slumbers fled; Hush, hush, my babe, the night is quickly waning, And I would fain compose my aching head. ri l! ii, I'i L 6. I.e., Robert Ellice Mack (fl. 1881*1902), British author and editor of children's verse. 7. British poet ( ). 8. These three words also begin a song by the English Sir Philip Sidney ( ). l 136

6 f] by Robert Ellice Thy father guards his sheep, Thy mother shakes the dreamland tree, Down falls a little dreamse for thee, Sleep, baby, sleepl The large stars are the sheep, The little stars are the lambs, I guess, The gentle moon is the shepherdess. And cry not like a sheep, Else the sheep-dog will bark and whine, And bite this naughty child of mine. Sleep, baby, sleepl Away to tend the sheep, Away, thou sheep-dog fierce and wild, And do not harm my sleeping child. Sleep, baby, sleepl Wvnken, Blyrrken, and Nod by Ewgene Field) Wynken, Bllnken, and Nod one night Sailed offin a wooden shoe- Sailed on a river of crystal light, Into a sea of dew. 'Where are you going, and rvhat 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, The old moon laughed and sang 4 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 afeard are we"l So cried the stars to the fishermen three: Wynken, Blynken, Our Saviour loves His sheep; He is the Lamb of God on high, All night long their nets they threw Who for our sakes came down to die. To the stars in the twinkling foam- Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe, 1884 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, 9. Sadness, gloom. 1. American poet, humorist, andjournalist (i )

7 Wynken and Blymken 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 th ree: Wyrrken, Blynken,. I 889 =, DIi NURSERY VERSE Whereas lullabies are sleep songs, the poems in this section are waking songs: verses for an adult to sing or chant in a game with a very young child. Many of these anonymous verses have resonated through the generations; we often can find their echoes in collections by later poets. Nursery verse began to appear in print only in the eighteenth century when the idea of a special nursery culture-and indeed the idea that infants and young children should have a separate space in the home-started to take hold. In America and England, such verses have become known as Mother Goose rh).mes, largely because of a historical accident. When Charles Perrault's 1697 collection of fairy tales, Historiet ou cofltes dw.tewps passd (Storles, or Tales of Past Times), u,as first translated into English in 1729, the title was taken from its frontispiece: an old woman w,ith a rapt audience that was labeled "Contes de ma Mbre I'Oye," or "Tales of Mother Goose." "Mother Goose" had iong been associated in France with a teller of children's tales; Perrault himself had titled a smaller collection Contes de nca Mbre I'Oye (1691). Soon thereafter, British publishers began collecting and printing the bits and pieces of children's songs and poems that had been circulating orally. The earliest was Mary Cooper's Tb**ry Tkwtnb's Pretty Song Bool< (ca. 1744); John Nern'bery offered Motker Goose's Melody (ca ), and the name stuck. A few traditional Mother Goose rh),rnes are lullabies (e.g., "Baby Bunting"), brrt most are not. The selections are arranged in loose clusters, moving roughly from verses aimed at the youngest audience to those for older children. They include games an adult might play with a baby, such as 'Jeremiah, blo'w, the fire"; delightfully silly rhynes, such as "Dickery dickery dare" and "Hickory dickory dock"; commemorations of historical teachers, such as "Blessed be the memory" and "Miss Buss and Miss Beale"; and verses to be recited as part of a cozy bedtime ritual. Many have been selected because they echo forward into the published collections of verse included below. The illustrations demonstrate how open the words of these poems are to interpretation. Some of the earliest illustrators represented, from collections in the nineteenth century were not named. Artists who did receive credit for their famous works reproduced here include Arthur Rackham ( ), Walter Crane ( ), and Paula Rego (b. 1935).