You may not remember your friends’ birthdays but there are some sounds, songs and places you will never forget, such an example would be a nursery rhyme.
Although we would shout out the lyrics when we were younger with no thought to the words at all, there is a meaning behind the catchy lyrics.
Disagreement arises surrounds as to when some rhymes were created, or what the actual message the rhyme is meant to convey but according to Ancient Origins most researchers agree they were meant to provide morals, values or warnings, to their audience.
Baa Baa Black Sheep: The last line of the rhyme originally read, “But none for the little boy who cries down the lane,” instead of “And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.” The rhyme referred to the reality of life in England and the export tax for wool farmers of 1275 created by King Edward I, who is the referred to as ‘master’in the rhyme. The ‘bags of wool’ or other produce first went to the nobles, then the church, and in the end, there was nothing left for the poor ‘little boy’.
Mary Mary Quite Contrary: “Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row.” Mary Mary could be referring to Mary Tudor or Mary Queen of Scots. The crueler of the two, Mary Tudor, was a strict Catholic who executed Protestants for not converting. Her garden, was a graveyard that grew with the number of those who were executed. ‘Silver bells’ and ‘cockle shells’ may have been the nicknames of torture devices, such as thumbscrews and instruments attached to the genitals. The ‘maids’ is thought to be another nickname for torture or the guillotine.
Goosey Gander: “Goosey, goosey, gander, whither dost thou wander? Upstairs and downstairs and in my lady’s chamber. There I met an old man, who wouldn’t say his prayers; I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.” This rhyme refers to Catholic persecution in the 16th century, where Catholics had private rooms in their homes to pray. If devout Protestants found Catholics praying in Latin, their whole family would be executed. The reference to the ‘left leg’ in the rhyme could point to the nickname for Catholics at the time, ‘left-leggers’.
