They say that your childhood years really form the person you are when you grow up. If that's true, there's a potential killer in all of us.
Ever wondered why nursery rhymes are so morbid? Why did Jack, after his romantic walk up the hill to fecth a pail of water, break his head? Why does the bough break so that the cradle, baby and all fall? Why did Humpty Dumpty not just have an ordinary fall, but a "great" one? Why did Little Miss Muppet suffer from arachnophobia? Why were the 3 blind mice blind??
Most nursery rhymes (about half of them) are more than 200 years old and come from Britain with a very interesting history - mainly linked to dark times like the wars in Victorian England and the all consuming plagues.
Humpty Dumpty, commonly drawn up as an egg, was actually a cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49). It was mounted on top of a church wall to defend against the seige that the city of Colchester was under. The church tower was hit by the enemy and the cannon had a "great fall. And all the King's horses and all the King's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again".
Ring a Ring O'Roses is believed to be a reference to the Great Plague of London. The Ring of Roses was a symptom of the plagues (a round red rash) and the smell from "a pocket full of posies (another flower)" would conceal the smell from the scores of dying victims. The sneezing sound ("atishoo, atishoo") is the sneezing just before the grim reaper strikes. And then "we all fall down".
There are multiple theories on Jack and Jill. One (and the most popular one) is that this originated in France and refers to Louis XVI who was beheaded (lost his crown) followed by his Queen Marie Antoinette (who came tumbling after).
And my favorite one. The 3 blind mice! The "farmer's wife" refers to Queen Mary I, otherwise known as "Bloody Mary" (yep - that's where the drink gets its name). She was the "farmer's wife" because of the massive farming estates that her husband (Philip of Spain) owned. The 3 blind mice were three noblemen who were plotting against the Queen, although she didn't have them dismembered with a "carving knife", but she did have them burnt at the stake. Guess that just didn't fit the rhyme!
The list goes on, but here's a case to bring your kids up to Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. They might do less damage!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Terrific insights!!! Where do you get all this dope from???
Interesting!!! I didn't grow up listening all of these, thanx to indian public schools!! but then its pretty sad to know that kids grow up listening to these sad stories!!
Hi Nits,
Oh boy does this bring back memories of Tinkerbell or what?
I wonder how many of these morbid nursery rhymes did I introduce to you?
Fortunately, Sanchita's favorite was "Itsy Bitsy Spider" & I couldn't find any historical reference to it & it is just a rhyme to improve the kids manual dexterity. Guess she wont need a shrink now!
Apologies for being so sentimental & mushy but this sure takes me down memory lane.
unpredictable - let's just call this diligent research of a curious mind!!
BB - lets get this straight - you're responsible for a lot of how i've shaped up... good and bad!! :) (what with all the bathroom locking!!!)... but lucky about sanch I say.. shrinks can be bloody expensive!!!! ;)
hey ganji!!! what have you been smoking lately? :)
Gajju, do some research with that curious mind on commonly used English expressions / words... Can be a lot of fodder for a future blog if you run out of topics... (yes, I can believe that there is no chance of that happening - running out of topics I mean.) Threshold, Grave Yard shift, Holding the Wake ... there are quite a few...
according to me these rhymes are not really morbid....these all rhymes have a deeper analysis ...the way freud would give... well, jack and jill ofcourse did not go up to fetch a pail of water...they went there to do it...and u know what jack's crown was, don't u..;) each nursery rhyme is deep ...just do freudian analysis....:D
hmmm - interesting take on things! now i don't know what's more disturbing - the morbidity in nursery rhymes or the sexual references in them.
Hey everyone,
I truly appreciate your blog, I'll be back soon!
Tell me what you think of my theories regarding hypnosis!
Post a Comment