| "Wee Willie Winkie" | |
|---|---|
 1940 WPA poster using Wee Willie Winkie to promote children's libraries | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Language | Scots |
| Published | 1841 |
| Lyricist(s) | William Miller |
"Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme whose titular figure has become popular as a personification of sleep. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13711.
Scots poet William Miller (1810-1872), appears to have popularised a pre-existing nursery rhyme, adding additional verses to make up a five stanza poem. Miller’s “Willie Winkie: A Nursery Rhyme’ was first published in a collection of poems called Whistle-Binkie: Stories for the Social Circle (1841)1.[1][2][3] with the footer that ‘Willie Winkie’ was “The Scottish Nursery Morpheus” indicating, that Miller was drawing upon an established folkloric figure of sleep.
A chapbook c.1820 called The Cries of Banbury and London contain the singular first verse ‘little willie winkie’, pre-dates the publication of Miller’s poem. Another nursery collection, published in London 3 years after Miller’s poem, also contains just the first stanza, suggesting that the lyrics were circulating independently in the 1840s (Iona and Peter Opie Oxford, p.512-513).
- ^ Cunningham, Valentine (14 April 2000). The Victorians. ISBN 9780631199168. Retrieved 3 May 2013 – via Google Books.
- ^ "William Miller". Scottish-places.info. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
- ^ "Dennistoun online". Dennistoun.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2013.