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A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From the mid-16th century nursery rhymes begin to be recorded in English plays, and most popular rhymes date from the 17th and 18th centuries. The first English collections, '' Tommy Thumb's Song Book'' and a sequel, ''
Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book ''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book'' is the first extant anthology of English nursery rhymes, published in London in 1744. It contains the oldest printed texts of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that eventually dropped out of ...
'', were published by Mary Cooper in 1744. Publisher John Newbery's stepson, Thomas Carnan, was the first to use the term Mother Goose for nursery rhymes when he published a compilation of English rhymes, ''Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle'' (London, 1780).


History


Lullabies

The oldest children's songs of which we have records are lullabies, intended to help a child fall asleep. Lullabies can be found in every human culture. The English term lullaby is thought to come from "lu, lu" or "la la" sounds made by mothers or nurses to calm children, and "" or "bye bye", either another lulling sound or a term for good night. Until the modern era lullabies were usually recorded only incidentally in written sources. The Roman nurses' lullaby, "Lalla, Lalla, Lalla, aut dormi, aut lacta", is recorded in a scholium on
Persius Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he considered to be the stylistic abuses of hi ...
and may be the oldest to survive. Many medieval English verses associated with the birth of
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
take the form of a lullaby, including "Lullay, my liking, my dere son, my sweting" and may be versions of contemporary lullabies. However, most of those used today date from the 17th century. For example, a well known lullaby such as " Rock-a-bye, baby on a tree top", cannot be found in records until the late-18th century when it was printed by John Newbery (c. 1765).


Early nursery rhymes

A French poem, similar to "Thirty days hath September", numbering the days of the month, was recorded in the 13th century. From the later Middle Ages there are records of short children's rhyming songs, often as marginalia. From the mid-16th century they begin to be recorded in English plays.A. Fox, ''Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500–1700'' (
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 2000), p. 202.
" Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man" is one of the oldest surviving English nursery rhymes. The earliest recorded version of the rhyme appears in Thomas d'Urfey's play ''The Campaigners'' from 1698. Most nursery rhymes were not written down until the 18th century, when the publishing of children's books began to move from polemic and education towards entertainment, but there is evidence for many rhymes existing before this, including " To market, to market" and " Cock a doodle doo", which date from at least the late 16th century. Nursery rhymes with 17th century origins include, " Jack Sprat" (1639), "
The Grand Old Duke of York "The Grand Old Duke of York" (also sung as The Noble Duke of York) is an English children's nursery rhyme, often performed as an action song. The eponymous duke has been argued to be a number of the bearers of that title, particularly Prince Fred ...
" (1642), " Lavender's Blue" (1672) and " Rain Rain Go Away" (1687). The first English collections, '' Tommy Thumb's Song Book'' and a sequel, ''
Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book ''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book'' is the first extant anthology of English nursery rhymes, published in London in 1744. It contains the oldest printed texts of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that eventually dropped out of ...
'', were published by Mary Cooper in London in 1744, with such songs becoming known as 'Tommy Thumb's songs'. A copy of the latter is held in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
. John Newbery's stepson, Thomas Carnan, was the first to use the term Mother Goose for nursery rhymes when he published a compilation of English rhymes, '' Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle'' (London, 1780).A. H. Bullen's 1904 facsimile of Newbery's 1791 edition of ''Mother Goose's Melody''
on-line
These rhymes seem to have come from a variety of sources, including traditional riddles, proverbs,
ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, lines of Mummers' plays, drinking songs, historical events, and, it has been suggested, ancient pagan rituals. One example of a nursery rhyme in the form a riddle is " As I was going to St Ives", which dates to 1730. About half of the currently recognised "traditional" English rhymes were known by the mid-18th century. More English rhymes were collected by Joseph Ritson in ''Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus'' (1784), published in London by Joseph Johnson.


19th century

In the early 19th century printed collections of rhymes began to spread to other countries, including Robert Chambers's ''Popular Rhymes of Scotland'' (1826) and in the United States, ''Mother Goose's Melodies'' (1833). From this period we sometimes know the origins and authors of rhymes—for instance, in " Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" which combines the melody of an 18th-century French tune " Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" with a 19th-century English poem by Jane Taylor entitled "The Star" used as lyrics. Early folk song collectors also often collected (what are now known as) nursery rhymes, including in Scotland
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
and in Germany
Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz ...
and Achim von Arnim in '' Des Knaben Wunderhorn'' (1806–1808). The first, and possibly the most important academic collection to focus in this area was James Orchard Halliwell's ''The Nursery Rhymes of England'' (1842) and ''Popular Rhymes and Tales'' in 1849, in which he divided rhymes into antiquities (historical), fireside stories, game-rhymes, alphabet-rhymes, riddles, nature-rhymes, places and families, proverbs, superstitions, customs, and nursery songs (lullabies). By the time of
Sabine Baring-Gould Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 ...
's ''A Book of Nursery Songs'' (1895), folklore was an academic study, full of comments and footnotes. A professional anthropologist, Andrew Lang (1844–1912) produced ''The Nursery Rhyme Book'' in 1897.


20th century

The early years of the 20th century are notable for the illustrations to children's books including Randolph Caldecott's ''Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book'' (1909) and
Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...
's ''Mother Goose'' (1913). The children's writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter also provided two collections, '' Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes'' (1917) and ''
Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes ''Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and published by Frederick Warne & Co. in December 1922. The book is a compilation of traditional English nursery rhymes such as " Goosey Goosey G ...
'' (1922). The only known full set of Potter's four original watercolour illustrations to "
This Little Piggy "This Little Piggy" or "This Little Pig" is an English-language nursery rhyme and fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19297. Lyrics One popular version is: Fingerplay The rhyme is usually counted out on an infant or ...
" sold for £60,000 in 2012. The definitive study of English rhymes remains the work of
Iona and Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...
.


Meanings of nursery rhymes

Many nursery rhymes have been argued to have hidden meanings and origins. John Bellenden Ker (1765–1842), for example, wrote four volumes arguing that English nursery rhymes were actually written in 'Low Saxon', a hypothetical early form of Dutch. He then 'translated' them back into English, revealing in particular a strong tendency to
anti-clericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...
. Many of the ideas about the links between rhymes and historical persons, or events, can be traced back to Katherine Elwes's book ''The Real Personages of Mother Goose'' (1930), in which she linked famous nursery-rhyme characters with real people, on little or no evidence. She posited that children's songs were a peculiar form of coded historical narrative, propaganda or covert protest, and did not believe that they were written simply for entertainment.


Nursery rhyme revisionism

There have been several attempts, across the world, to revise nursery rhymes (along with fairy tales and popular songs). As recently as the late 18th century, rhymes like "
Little Robin Redbreast ‘Little Robin Redbreast’ is an English language nursery rhyme, chiefly notable as evidence of the way traditional rhymes are changed and edited. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20612. Lyrics This rhyme is one of the most varied ...
" were occasionally cleaned up for a young audience. In the late 19th century the major concern seems to have been violence and crime, which led some children's publishers in the United States like Jacob Abbot and Samuel Goodrich to change Mother Goose rhymes. In the early and mid-20th centuries this was a form of
bowdlerisation Expurgation, also known as bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media. The term ''bowdlerization'' is a pejorative term for the pract ...
, concerned with some of the more violent elements of nursery rhymes and led to the formation of organisations like the British 'Society for Nursery Rhyme Reform'. Psychoanalysts such as Bruno Bettelheim strongly criticized this revisionism, on the grounds that it weakened their usefulness to both children and adults as ways of symbolically resolving issues and it has been argued that revised versions may not perform the functions of
catharsis Catharsis (from Greek , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration. In its lite ...
for children, or allow them to imaginatively deal with violence and danger. In the late 20th century revisionism of nursery rhymes became associated with the idea of political correctness. Most attempts to reform nursery rhymes on this basis appear to be either very small scale, light-hearted updating, like Felix Dennis's ''When Jack Sued Jill – Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times'' (2006), or satires written as if from the point of view of political correctness in order to condemn reform. The controversy in Britain in 1986 over changing the language of "
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is an English nursery rhyme, the earliest printed version of which dates from around 1744. The words have not changed very much in two and a half centuries. It is sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody ''Ah! vous dir ...
" because, it was alleged in the popular press, it was seen as racially dubious, was apparently based only on a rewriting of the rhyme in one private nursery, as an exercise for the children.


Nursery rhymes and education

It has been argued that nursery rhymes set to music aid in a child's development. In the German '' Kniereitvers'', the child is put in mock peril, but the experience is a pleasurable one of care and support, which over time the child comes to command for itself. Research also supports the assertion that music and rhyme increase a child's ability in
spatial reasoning Spatial may refer to: * Dimension * Space * Three-dimensional space See also

* * {{disambig ...
, which aid mathematics skills.Associated Press, "Study says preschool music lessons may aid math skills", ''Chicago Tribune'', August 14, 1994.


See also

*
Children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...
*
Counting-out game A counting-out game or counting-out rhyme is a simple method of 'randomly' selecting a person from a group, often used by children for the purpose of playing another game. It usually requires no materials, and is achieved with spoken words or hand ...
* Fingerplay *
Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...
* Kidsongs *
Limerick (poetry) A limerick ( ) is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude, in five-line, predominantly trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter a ...
* List of nursery rhymes *
Oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and Culture, cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Traditio ...
*
Wee Sing Wee or WEE may refer to: * Wee, a slang term for urine (see also wee-wee) * Wee, short stature, or otherwise small Anthroponym * Wee (surname), Chinese surname and name * Wee Willie Harris, singer * Wee Willie Webber, Philadelphia TV and ...


Notes


Citations

Sources * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nursery Rhyme Children's poetry Children's songs Early childhood education in the United Kingdom