The Great Brown Owl Lyrics
A brown owl sits all day in the ivy and looks wise, a merry little bird says it cannot see in the bright light, and at night the owl flies away.
The Great Brown Owl
THE Brown Owl sits in the ivy-bush,
And she looketh wondrous wise,
With a horny beak beneath her cowl,
And a pair of large round eyes.
She sat all day on the selfsame spray,
From sunrise till sunset;
And the dim grey light, it was all too bright
For the Owl to see in yet.
"Jenny Owlet, Jenny Owlet," said a merry little bird,
"They say you're wondrous wise;
But I don't think you see, though you're looking at ME
With your large, round, shining eyes."
But night came soon, and the pale white moon
Rolled high up in the skies;
And the great Brown Owl flew away in her cowl,
With her large, round, shining eyes.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-great-brown-owl/
- Type
- Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken slowly, with a bright voice for the little bird
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| And a pair of large round eyes | Make big circles round your eyes with your fingers. |
| Jenny Owlet, Jenny Owlet | Put a hand beside your mouth and call out like the little bird. |
| The great Brown Owl flew away | Spread your arms and glide silently away. |
What Does The Great Brown Owl Mean?
The brown owl looks very wise in the ivy bush, with a horny beak under her cowl, an old word for a hood, and big round eyes. But the poem says the dim grey light of day is too bright for her to see in. A merry little bird calls her Jenny Owlet, using Jenny, an old pet name for a female bird, as in Jenny Wren, and says that people think she is wise but that the bird doubts she can see, though she looks straight at it.
The answer comes in the last verse. When night comes and the moon is high, the owl flies away with her large, round, shining eyes. Owls are at home in the dark. A spray, in the second verse, is a small branch.
History and Origin
The poem is in a collection called Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes. The book names no author for it. It has four verses of four lines each, sixteen lines in all.
Learning Activities
- Day owl, night owl: sit still with eyes half closed for the day verses, then open them wide for the night.
- Owl eyes: make owl eyes from two paper plates and hold them up on the line about the large round eyes.
- Wise or not?: talk about why owls have a reputation for being wise.
- Night sounds: listen for the sounds of the evening and name the animals that make them.