Star Light, Star Bright

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"Star Light, Star Bright"
Nursery rhyme
PublishedMid/late 19th century
Genre Children's song
Composer(s) unknown
Lyricist(s) unknown

"Star Light, Star Bright" is an English language nursery rhyme of American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16339.

Contents

Lyrics

The lyrics usually conform to the following:

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight. [1]

Origin

According to folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, the superstition of hoping for wishes granted when seeing a shooting or falling star may date back to the ancient world. [2] It was also mentioned in The Encyclopedia of Superstitions that wishing on the first star seen may also predate this rhyme. [3] The song "Star Light, Star Bright" first began to be recorded in mid/late nineteenth-century America. [3] It can be found in works dating to at least 1866 as the song appears in "Swallows on the Wing O'er Garden Springs of Delight" by William Furniss. [4] It can also be found in an 1873 article from "To-day" magazine where the song is linked to fortunes. [5] The song and tradition seem to have reached Britain by the early twentieth century and have since spread worldwide. [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ R. Gerlings, Hey, Diddle, Diddle and Other Best-Loved Rhymes (Windmill Books, 2009), p. 32.
  2. 1 2 I. Opie and M. Tatem, A Dictionary of Superstitions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 175-6.
  3. 1 2 R. Webster, The Encyclopedia of Superstitions (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2008), p. 245.
  4. ↑ William Furniss (1866). Swallows on the Wing O'er Garden Springs of Delight: A Medly of Prose and Verse. Michael Doolady. p. 35.
  5. ↑ M.P. Hardy (1873). To-day: The Popular Illustrated Magazine, Volume 2. Maclean, Stoddart & Company. p. 131.
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