![]() The symptoms of bubonic plague included a rosy red ring-shaped rash, which inspired the first line. This rhyme dates back to the Great Plague of London in 1665. There was no fixing the cannon or the tower, and the Humpty Dumpty rhyme was born. During the Siege of Colchester, The tower was hit by enemy cannon fire and Humpty suffered a great fall. Humpty was a huge cannon mounted atop a high wall-like church tower. However, the real story behind the rhyme dates back to the English Civil War. It’s a sad story, as he gets busted up and nobody can fix him. In children’s books, Humpty Dumpty is portrayed as a large egg, usually dressed like a little boy. Humpty DumptyĪll the King’s Horses and all the King’s men A handful do not reference historical events at all, but instead seem to convey warnings or common sense wisdom. ![]() It’s only when you stop and absorb the actual words of these catchy, sing-song rhymes that the darkness and absurdity is realized. They have been so ingrained in us since childhood that we hardly notice that babies are falling from trees, women are held captive or live animals are being cooked. Other nursery rhymes don’t seem to carry a particular message at all, but convey a macabre sense of humor. Under the guise of children’s entertainment, many rhymes that were encoded with secret messages throughout history have endured the test of time and are still with us today. The “Adam and Eve” rhyme made peasants realize that they were important to the economy and contributed to the Peasants Revolt of 1381. While the Bubonic Plaque ravaged England, peasants used a rhyme to spread the word about equality. The first nursery rhymes can be traced back to the fourteenth century. In order to communicate at will, clever rhymes were constructed and passed around to parody public figures and events. Gossiping, criticizing the government or even talking about current events were often punishable by death. Others have claimed it’s a corruption of the French tune, “He bas! là le loup!” (Hush! There’s the wolf!) Some have thought it’s a reference to British colonists noticing Native American women comforting their children by rocking them in birch-bark cradles.In more repressed times, people were not always allowed to express themselves freely, for fear of persecution. Over time, some have thought the lullaby is about the Egyptian deity Horus, god of kingship and the sky. “Jack and Jill,” for example could be about the price of beer rising and falling or it could be about the human life cycle. ![]() One reason is that, because they are so simple, they can have any number of meanings applied to them. But somehow they last in the collective consciousness. The best thing about nursery rhymes and lullabies like this is that they are so memorable because, in a way, they are so simple. Today, the song is sung in nursery schools and by parents of young children everywhere. ![]() ![]() In 1887, the British newspaper, The Times, included an advertisement for a performance in London by a group of musicians who were going to play the “new” American song, “Rock-a-bye.” Later, an article in The New York Times, in 1891, referenced the song being played in a New Jersey parade. ![]()
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