Little Boy Blue (Poem)

Little Boy Blue is a melancholy poem written by Eugene Field. It is about two child's toys that were left out over night by the main character of the poem, named Little Boy Blue. In the poem, the boy dies in his sleep, thus leaving the toys there forever.

The poem was first released in the book Poems of Childhood, and was immediately received with good reviews. It appeared again in the poem book called One Hundred and One Famous Poems compiled by Roy J. Cook.

There is much controversy surrounding the poem, such as the question, "Did the boy die?" It never says exactly what happens, as the stanza reads:

"Now don't you go till I come," he said,

"And don't you make any noise!"

"So toddling off to his trundle-bed

"He dreamt of his pretty toys."

"And as he was dreaming, an angel song"

"Awakened our Little Boy Blue --"

"Oh, the years are many, the years are long,"

"But the little toy friends are true!"

Of course, this angel song that he writes about could be one of two things. It could either be an Angel of God, or it could be a beautiful woman, possibly his mother to tell him they were leaving. Most people believe that in the end, Little Boy Blue is dead.

Another thing that Field does in this poem is give toys life. In the final stanza, he gives them the ability to see and think, as read here:

"Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,"

"Each in the same old place,"

"Awaiting the touch of a little hand,"

"The smile of a little face."

"And they wonder, as waiting these long years through,"

"In the dust of that little chair,"

"What has become of our Little Boy Blue"

"Since he kissed them and put them there."

The first stanza of the poem is written from the same time that the poem ends, starting with the toys sitting on the chair, wondering where Little Boy Blue had disappeared to. Then it goes back in time to when they were first put on the chair many, many years ago.