2 Jun 2010

TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR.


Carrying on from yesterday's NOTES & QUERIES POST, I thought I'd bring you more about that infamous little star, Twinkle.

One of the most popular of ENGLISH NURSERY RHYMES and a personal favourite of mine, the lyrics of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star actually come from a poem 'The Star' which, written in COUPLET form by JANE TAYLOR,was first published in 1806.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

Repeat:*
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!*

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
(*repeat)

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
(*repeat)
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
(*repeat)
As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
(*repeat.)

Written for the Freeview meme as hosted by Cara at OOH .... BOOKS!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never knew this. I'm learning a lot here. Thanks for this.

All the best
Boonsong

chitra said...

Hi PW
I am so happy to be here. thanks for taking time to say hello. and my post is ready too. I may take a while before I hit my normal schedule-pending work

Kelly said...

I don't guess I ever knew this little rhyme had all these other verses!

I'm so glad you so all this research for me!

Traci said...

I love Twinkle, Twinkle -- I remember being taught it by my mom and now I am teaching it to my daughter. Truly special memories.
:-)

awitchtrying said...

That's so cool. I never knew that. Somewhere along the way, someone attached those lines to the ABC song and we have Twinkle, the most famous star. Wonderful. I really like the full poem. I'll never hear that song the same.

Kissed by an Angel said...

I never new that Twinkle Twinkle had all those verses!!!
xxxx

BookQuoter said...

Ohhh, I never knew the other verses either, thanks so much!!!

Revd. Neal Terry said...

You are obsessed!

Valerie said...

I haven't been doing FreeVerse for a while -- hope to get back to it next week.

I didn't know that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star had more than the first verse, either!

purplume said...

Since the poem mentions traveler, I wonder if they were talking to the North Star?

Jenners said...

I never heard of the other verses before ... I love them!!

And did you know that the "song" version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is the same song as the ABC song and BAA BAA Black Sheep? I never knew this or recognized it until I found out recently.

Oddyoddyo13 said...

I didn't know that! I seemed to have known the first verse forever, but never the others. So amazing to figure out what it originated from!

Pam said...

I didn't know there were any more verses to Twinkle, Twinkle. I'm learning a lot from reading your blog.

Arti said...

This is one of my favourite too!!
Never thought about all this stuff like origin and extended verses...
Wow!!Amazing piece of info here!!
Loved it :)

Betty Manousos said...

Nice poem! Love it! Thanks for the info. :)
Hugs
B xx