The Real Meaning of Nursery Rhymes

Little Jack Horner Sat in a corner Eating a Christmas pie; He put in his thumb And pulled out a plum And said, ‘What a good boy am I!’ Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 there were more than eight hundred religious foundations in England with over 16,000 monks and nuns. During the

Ring-a-Roses Ring-a-ring o’ roses, A pocketful of posies; A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down. This rhyme usually accompanies a dancing game that ends with all the children falling to the ground, getting their clothes muddy and going home to a clout round the ear. Or at least that’s how I remember it. ‘Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses’

Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider That sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away. Arachnopohobia is clearly not a modern complaint. Although cobwebs have traditionally been used as a dressing for wounds (and, scientifically tested, have turned out to contain all kinds of

Living in our high-tech world, it is difficult to imagine a time when it was impossible to link up to the planet at large, and everyone on it, at the touch of a button or a single click of a mouse. It is only seventy years since the cinema, followed by television, began to bring

Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow; And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go. It followed her to school one day, Which was against the rule; It made the children laugh and play To see a lamb at school. And so the teacher turned it out, But

Three blind mice, three blind mice, See how they run, see how they run; They all ran after the farmer’s wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife; Did you ever see such a thing in your life, As three blind mice? Some historians believe the origin of the words to ‘Three Blind