Puppy Dog Tails and Cockle Shells

During the Siege of Colchester, The tower was hit by enemy cannon fire and Humpty suffered a great fall. There was no fixing the cannon or the tower, and the Humpty Dumpty rhyme was born.

What are little boys made of?

This rhyme dates back to the Great Plague of London in The symptoms of bubonic plague included a rosy red ring-shaped rash, which inspired the first line. Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full! One for the master, one for the dame And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

Baa Baa Black Sheep references the importance of the wool industry to the economy from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century. The rhyme is also thought to be a political satire of the export tax imposed in Britain in under the rule of King Edward I. For want of a nail the shoe was lost For want of a shoe the horse was lost For want of a horse the rider was lost For want of a rider the battle was lost For want of a battle the kingdom was lost And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. This simple rhyme is a reminder for children to think of the possible consequences of their actions.

It has often been used to illustrate the chain of events that can stem from a single thoughtless action. Mary Mary quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells And pretty maids all in a row. This rhyme is a reference to Bloody Mary. The garden refers to growing cemeteries, as she filled them with Protestants. Silver bells and cockle shells were instruments of torture and the maiden was a device used to behead people.

Mary Mary quite contrary

Goosey, goosey, gander, Whither dost thou wander? While Mother Goose seems like a kind, grandmotherly sort, the gander in this rhyme appears to be quite a bastard. This sixteenth century rhyme is a reminder to children to always say their prayers. Rock-a-bye, baby, In the tree top. When the wind blows, The cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, The cradle will fall, And down will come baby, Cradle and al. The American roots of this odd rhyme come from a young pilgrim who saw Native American mothers hanging cradles in trees.

When the wind blew, the cradles would rock and the babies in them would sleep. It was a different time back then for women, and for views on divorce, too, which is why this rhyme served to warn young girls about infidelity. Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. This rhyme most certainly originated long ago, before PETA existed. It was likely based on a spoof by a court jester who thought it would be hilarious to trick the king by putting live birds into a pie shell. At the time, cooked blackbirds were considered a delicacy and would have been served to the king.

The king was in his counting house counting out his money, The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes, When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose! The live birds that were put in the pie are back for revenge in this verse. Jack and Jill went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down, And broke his crown; And Jill came tumbling after. This poem originated in France. Jack was beheaded lost his crown first, then Jill came tumbling after during the Reign of Terror in London Bridge bridge is falling down, down Falling down down, falling down, down London Bridge bridge is falling down, down My fair lady.

Take a key key and lock padlock her up, Lock padlock her up, lock padlock her up, Take a key key and lock padlock her up, My fair lady. Boleyn was accused of adultery and incest and was ultimately executed for treason. There was an old lady who swallowed a bird; How absurd to swallow a bird. There was an old lady who swallowed a cat; Fancy that to swallow a cat! These absurd lyrics were written by Rose Bonne and made popular in by Burl Ives.

What are little boys made of rhyme

A woman who has a relatively small problem makes it progressively worse, which ultimately leads to her death. Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor doggie a bone, When she got there The cupboard was bare So the poor little doggie had none. Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor daughter a dress. But when she got there The cupboard was bare And so was her daughter, I guess! This rhyme is reputedly about Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

The King wanted a divorce so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. The doggie and the bone in the rhyme refer to the divorce, the cupboard is a reference to the Catholic Church and Wolsey is Old Mother Hubbard. The divorce was later arranged by Thomas Cramner and resulted in the break with Rome and the formation of the English Protestant church. Little Miss Muffet was written in the sixteenth century by Dr.

Muffet, the stepfather of a small girl named Patience Muffet. Muffet was an entomologist famous for writing the first scientific catalog of British insects. Ladybug, ladybug fly away home, Your house is on fire, Your children will burn. Except for the little one whose name is Ann, Who hid away in a frying pan. Of course, nursery rhymes have a perfectly legitimate need. But why choose these words, when any words would do?

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row. I read this nursery rhyme and drift to an image of a sweet old lady tending lovingly to her flowers. Oh, how I wish! The Mary in this verse, the scholarly books read, refers to Mary Tudor: Queen Mary I of England b At that time, England was a Catholic country and required the permission of the Pope for any marriage to be deemed invalid. Pope Clement VII - by all reports, a rather fearsome bloke — denied Henry this request, which royally upset the King and set in place the events that would lead to England breaking away from Rome, and the formation of the Church of England.

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Mary got mad — indeed, she got very mad — and passed legislation that would punish anyone judged guilty of heresy against the Catholic faith in the most grisly of ways Hint: It is at this gruesome point that we go back to the nursery rhyme. The silver bells and cockle shells refer to her favoured instruments of torture - the former being thumb screws, and the latter being screws that are places on…umm…other parts of the male anatomy.

See how they run. Thomas Cranmer was an influential clergyman of the early 16th century, and a bit of a pain in the neck to Mary. This, of course, was a big mistake given that Mary was rather active in crushing any voice of dissent. There is a plaque on Broad St in Oxford marking the site of this ghoulish event.

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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Fast forward a hundred years, and the English monarchy itself was under threat. The Royalists Cavaliers , who were loyal to Charles I, were coming under attack from the Parliamentarians Roundheads , who fought for Oliver Cromwell against the rather overbearing policies of Charles. In , the Royalists were on a whistle-stop tour of eastern England to recruit men for the upcoming war, and they stopped at Colchester, a small town in modern-day Essex.

The Parliamentarians tracked their enemies to Colchester and forced a siege which lasted 11 weeks. At the final battle that forced the end of the siege, the Parliamentarians attacked the wall supporting Humpty Dumpty, and the cannon fell to the floor, breaking into pieces.

Let the debate rage on!