Eugene Field (1850-1895), American poet and journalist, was born in St. Louis. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts, Knox College in Illinois, and the University of Missouri.
He worked on several Missouri newspapers and the Denver Tribune. In 1883 he started working on the editorial staff of the Chicago Morning News, where he remained until his death. He was responsible for a daily column, "Sharps and Flats," which appeared on the editorial page. It was one of the first personal columns and was very popular. His first published books were The Tribune Primer and Culture's Garland, collections of stories taken from his newspaper days in Denver and Chicago.
Among his more popular poems were "Little Boy Blue" and "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod." Their themes, like those of many of his poems, dealt mainly with children. He also wrote paraphrases of Horace's Odes, and he collected rare and beautiful books.
