Eugene Field was born in St. Louis, Mo in 1850. He became a newspaper columnist, writing for papers in Missouri, Chicago, and Denver. He finally settled in Chicago as a humor columnist for the Chicago Daily News . He died in 1895.
His best known works are Little Boy Blue, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, and The Duel (the gingham dog and the calico cat) and he became known as “The Children’s Poet” – each of his poems tells a whimsical story.