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Nursery Rhymes
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European 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 began 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'', 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 for which records exist 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, l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cock A Doodle Doo
"Cock a Doodle Doo" ( Roud 17770) is an English nursery rhyme. Lyrics The most common modern version is: Cock a doodle doo! My dame has lost her shoe, My master's lost his fiddling stick And knows not what to do.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 128. Origins The first two lines were used to mock the cockerel's (rooster in US) "crow". The first full version recorded was in ''Mother Goose's Melody'', published in London around 1765. By the mid-nineteenth century, when it was collected by James Orchard Halliwell James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English writer, Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Life The son of Thomas Hal ..., it was very popular and three additional verses, perhaps more recent in origin, had been added: Cock a doodle doo! What is my dame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gammer Gurton's Garland
''Gammer Gurton's Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus'', edited by the literary antiquary Joseph Ritson, is one of the earliest collections of English nursery rhymes. It was first published as a chapbook in 1784, but was three times reprinted in expanded editions during the following century, as were several unrelated children's books with similar titles. ''Gammer Gurton's Garland'' put into print for the first time some of our best-known nursery rhymes. Publication history Joseph Ritson was a young London antiquary, originally from Stockton-on-Tees, whose interests were in the early 1780s turning towards nursery rhymes. In 1781 he bought a copy of the pioneering collection '' Mother Goose's Melody'', and the following year encouraged his nephew to note down any such rhymes he came across. In 1784 his ''Gammer Gurton's Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus'', containing 79 nursery rhymes, was published by the Stockton bookseller R. Christopher as a 32mo chapbook priced at two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Ritson
Joseph Ritson (2 October 1752 – 23 September 1803) was an English Antiquarian, antiquary known for editing the first scholarly collection of Robin Hood ballads (1795). After a visit to France in 1791, he became a staunch supporter of the ideals of the French Revolution. He was also an influential vegetarianism activist.Spencer, Colin. (1995). ''The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism''. University Press of New England. pp. 233-234. Ritson is also known for his collections of English nursery rhymes, such as "Roses Are Red" and "Little Bo-Peep", in ''Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus'', published in London by Joseph Johnson (publisher), Joseph Johnson. Life and work Early life Ritson was born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, of a Westmorland yeoman family. He was educated for the law, mainly by Ralph Bradley (barrister), Ralph Bradley the leading conveyancer. He then settled in London as a conveyancer at 22. Writing career Ritson devoted his sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mummers' Play
Mummers' plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers (also by local names such as ''rhymers'', ''pace-eggers'', ''soulers'', ''tipteerers'', ''wrenboys'', and ''galoshins''). Historically, mummers' plays consisted of informal groups of costumed community members that visited from house to house on various holidays. Today the term refers especially to a play in which a number of characters are called on stage, two of whom engage in a combat, the loser being revived by a doctor character. This play is sometimes found associated with a sword dance though both also exist in Britain independently. Plays may be performed in the street or during visits to houses and pubs. They are generally performed seasonally, often at Christmas, Easter or on Plough Monday, more rarely on Halloween or All Souls' Day, and often with a collection of money. The practice may be compared with other customs such as those of Halloween, Bon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballads
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in Australia, North Africa, North America and South America. While ballads have no prescribed structure and may vary in their number of lines and stanzas, many ballads employ quatrains with ABCB or ABAB rhyme schemes, the key being a rhymed second and fourth line. Contrary to a popular conception, it is rare if not unheard-of for a ballad to contain exactly 13 lines. Additionally, couplets rarely appear in ballads. Many ballads were written and sold as single-sheet Broadside (music), broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the term took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is often used for any love song ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proverb
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is a type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. Collectively, they form a folklore genre, genre of folklore. Some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures with which they are in contact. In the West, the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs. Not all Biblical proverbs, however, were distributed to the same extent: one scholar has gathered evidence to show th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riddles
A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and ''conundra'', which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. Archer Taylor says that "we can probably say that riddling is a universal art" and cites riddles from hundreds of different cultures including Finnish, Hungarian, American Indian, Chinese, Russian, Dutch, and Filipino sources amongst many others. Many riddles and riddle-themes are internationally widespread. In the assessment of Elli Köngäs-Maranda (originally writing about Malaita, Malaitian riddles, but with an insight that has been taken up more widely), whereas myths serve to encode and establish social norms, "riddles make a point of playing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit library, it receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the United Kingdom. The library operates as a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The British Library is a major research library, with items in many languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. The Library's collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and items dating as far back as 2000 BC. The library maintains a programme for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rain Rain Go Away
"Rain, Rain, Go Away" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19096 and many different variations of it have been recorded. Lyrics and melody There are several versions and variations of this rhyming couplet. The most common modern version is generally but sometimes with different conclusions recorded. Iona and Peter Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), p. 360. Similar rhymes can be found in many societies, including ancient Greece and ancient Rome. The modern English language rhyme can be dated at least to the 17th century, when James Howell in his 1659 collection of proverbs noted "Raine, raine, goe to Spain: faire weather come againe". At the same period John Aubrey noted that "little children have a custom when it raines to sing or charme away the Raine; thus they all joine in a chorus and sing ''Raine, raine, goe away, Come againe a Saterday''", while a book of pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
