Who Am I with Noble Face Lyrics
A speaker with a noble face asks who they are. The clues come one by one: too bright to look at, chasing the clouds and the night away, drying the dew, waking the birds and opening the flowers. The last line asks the reader to guess the sun.
Who Am I with Noble Face
Who am I with noble face,
Shining in a clear blue place?
If to look at me you try,
I shall blind your little eye.
When my noble face I shew,
Over yonder mountain blue,
All the clouds away do ride,
And the dusky night beside.
Then the clear wet dews I dry,
With the look of my bright eye;
And the little birds awake,
Many a merry tune to make.
Cowslips then, and hare-bells blue,
And lily-cups their leaves undo,
For they shut themselves up tight,
All the dark and foggy night.
Then the busy people go,
Every one his work unto;
Little girl, when yours is done,
Guess, if I am not the sun.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/who-am-i-with-noble-face/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- A quiet, mysterious opening, then brighter with each clue
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Shining in a clear blue place | Lift both arms and open your hands wide, like rays. |
| Then the clear wet dews I dry | Wipe your palms gently across each other, as if drying something. |
What Does Who Am I with Noble Face Mean?
This is a riddle in five verses, and each verse gives the clues for a different part of a sunny morning. The first verse says the speaker shines "in a clear blue place" and would "blind your little eye" if you tried to look: a good reason never to stare at the sun. The second has the clouds riding away and the dusky night going with them. The third dries the dew and wakes the little birds to sing. The fourth opens cowslips, hare-bells and lily-cups, which "shut themselves up tight" through the dark night. The fifth sends the busy people off to work, and ends by asking the reader to guess if the speaker is not the sun.
The old spelling shew is just show. The answer is given in the last line, so children can have a go at guessing it earlier.
History and Origin
The riddle is from Rhymes for the Nursery, a children's book of verses by the "Authors of Original Poems". The twenty-third edition, printed in London in 1831 for Harvey and Darton, gives it the title "A fine Thing". It pairs with a moon riddle in the same book, Who Am I That Shine So Bright, which uses the same "Who am I" opening.
Learning Activities
- Guess early: read only the first two verses and ask what the child thinks it is. Then add a verse at a time.
- Morning watch: on a bright morning, look at the sky, the grass and the flowers, but never look straight at the sun.
- Dew search: go out early and look for dew on grass or a spider's web before the sun dries it.
- Write a riddle: choose something else in the sky and give three clues in the same "Who am I" style.