March 24, 2006

• Indoctrination, Education and Subversion

  Mother
  Goose nursery rhymes represent all of the above.  “Mother Goose”
  herself is somewhat of an enigma.  The first recorded reference to
  her in print was in French, in Loret’s 1650 La
  Muse Historique in which appeared the line, Comme un conte
  de la Mere Oye (“Like a Mother Goose story”), clearly implying that her name was already by then a household word in France.

  Robert Powel, a puppeteer who worked between 1709 and 1711, is
  erroneously credited with the first English print reference to Mother
  Goose.  Powel’s “Mother” wasn’t a goose, though.  She was a
  louse.  An 1828 article misprinted one of his scripts that was
  actually titled “Mother Lowse.”

  The old woman’s high-crowned hat, the animal familiars (goose, owl and
  others) with which she is associated, her ability to fly (on a broom or
  the back of her goose) and other signs within her stories, mark her as
  a witch.  That is one feature of old Ma Goose about which most
  scholars agree.

  Originally, her name was associated with “fairy tales” such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood.  About 1765, John Newbery published a book of traditional rhymes which he titled, Mother Goose’s Melody: or Sonnets for the Cradle.  The
  subsequent popularity of his book and a number of later pirated
  editions led to her name being associated more with the diverse collection of rhymes from various sources than with
  the traditional stories previously attributed to her.

  Many deluded American nursery rhyme fans believe that she is buried in Boston. 
  “All documentation clearly disputes the legend of a supposed ‘Boston
  Mother Goose.’ Suddenly in 1860, a claim was made that the
  originator of the tales was one Elizabeth Goose, great-grandmother
  of publisher Isaiah Thomas’s wife. Scholars have searched fruitlessly
  for the supposed ‘ghost volume’ which simply does not
  appear to exist. In addition, all the dates connected with the
  Boston claim are ‘off.’ But despite the facts, nursery-rhyme
  pilgrims continue to visit the presumed gravesite to pay homage—presumed,
  because Elizabeth Goose’s grave has no marker, and the misled
  pilgrims worship instead at the headstone of a ‘Mary Goose.’” (librarysupport.net)

  Some of these rhymes are lullabyes, songs or chants devised by parents to soothe or entertain children:

  Cry Baby Bunting
  Daddy’s gone a-hunting
  Gone to fetch a rabbit skin
  To wrap the Baby Bunting in

  One class of rhymes originates from children’s games.  These may or may not incorporate “hidden” meanings.  In See Saw Margery Daw, there are references to the workhouses that were once the only place an orphan or abandoned child might find shelter.

  Seesaw Margery Daw
  Johnny shall have a new master
  He shall earn but a penny a day
  Because he can’t work any faster

  Some people believe that Ring Around the
  Rosie contains references to the Black Plague but, for one thing, the dates of the
  plague and the rhyme don’t match.   snopes.com has a more credible explanation.
   

  
  The more likely explanation is to be found in the religious ban on
  dancing among many Protestants in the nineteenth century, in Britain as
  well as here in North America. Adolescents found a way around the
  dancing ban with what was called in the United States the “play-party.”
  Play-parties consisted of ring games which differed from square dances
  only in their name and their lack of musical accompaniment. They were
  hugely popular, and younger children got into the act, too. Some modern
  nursery games, particularly those which involve rings of children,
  derive from these play-party games. “Little Sally Saucer” (or “Sally
  Waters”) is one of them, and “Ring Around the Rosie” seems to be
  another. The rings referred to in the rhymes are literally the rings
  formed by the playing children. “Ashes, ashes” probably comes from
  something like “Husha, husha” (another common variant) which refers to
  stopping the ring and falling silent. And the falling down refers to
  the jumble of bodies in that ring when they let go of each other and
  throw themselves into the circle.

  Many Mother Goose rhymes are “teaching chants” devised to drill
  information into children’s heads.  This one teaches counting:

  One two buckle my shoe
  Three, four, knock at the door
  Five, six, pick up sticks
  Seven, eight, lay them straight
  Nine, ten, a big fat hen
  Eleven, twelve, dig and delve
  Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting
  Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen
  Seventeen, eighteen, maids in waiting
  Nineteen, twenty, my plate’s empty

  Another teaches nutrition:

  An apple a day keeps the doctor away
  Apple in the morning – Doctor’s warning
  Roast apple at night – starves the doctor outright
  Eat an apple going to bed – knock the doctor on the head
  Three each day, seven days a week – ruddy apple, ruddy cheek

  Some rhymes record actual events.  Mary Had a Little Lamb reportedly belongs to this category.

  
  Mary had a little lamb,
  Its fleece was white as snow.
  And everywhere that Mary went,
  The lamb was sure to go.

  It followed her to school one day,
  That was agains the rules;
  It made the children laugh and play,
  To see a lamb at school.

  And so the teacher turned it out,
  But still it lingered near;
  And waited patiently about
  Till Mary did appear.

  Why does the lamb love Mary so?
  The eager children cry;
  Why, Mary loves the lamb you know,
  The teacher did reply.
  

  Wikipedia has the story.

  The rhyme, “Oranges and Lemons,” is a shortened version of an older
  one, “London Bells.”  This one might on the surface seem to be an
  innocuous series of clever rhymes, but it’s even more clever than
  that.  Concealed in the poetic voices of the bells are references
  to occupations such as moneylender and torturer that were once
  practiced within the sound of those bells.  Over time, children
  have dropped some of the lines while retaining others that were easier
  to remember or more relevant to their lives at the time.

  Gay go up and gay go down to ring the bells of London Town.
  “Oranges and Lemons” say the Bells of St. Clements
  “Bullseyes and Targets” say the
  Bells of St. Margaret’s
  “Brickbats and Tiles” say theBells of St. Giles
  “Halfpence and Farthings” say the
  Bells of St. Martin’s
  “Pancakes and Fritters” say the Bells of St. Peter’s
  “Two Sticks and an Apple” say the Bells of Whitechapel
  “Maids in white aprons” say the Bells at St. Katherine’s
  “Pokers and Tongs” say the
  Bells of St. John’s
  “Kettles and Pans” say the Bells of St. Anne’s
  “Old Father Baldpate” say the slow
  Bells of Aldgate
  “You owe me Ten Shillings” say the Bells of St. Helen’s
  “When will you Pay me?” say the Bells of Old Bailey
  “When I grow Rich” say the Bells of Shoreditch
  “Pray when will that be?” say the Bells of Stepney
  “I do not know” says the
  Great Bell of Bow
  Gay go up and gay go down to ring the bells of London Town

  Another category of nursery rhymes served as coded subversive messages in cultures where there was no free speech.

  When Adam delved and Eve span,
  Who was then a gentleman?

  This is one of the earliest recorded English subversive “nursery”
  rhymes.  Catchy and succinct, it spread within an oppressed
  population of serfs and helped to ignite the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

   Mary Mary quite contrary,
  How does your garden grow?
  With silver bells and cockle shells
  And pretty maids all in a row.
     
  Scholars and historians generally agree that this refers to Mary Tudor,
  Mary I of England, known as “Bloody Mary” and the instruments used by
  her royal torturers.  The silver bells are thumbscrews, the cockle
  shells are clamps used on genitals, and the “maids” were beheading
  machines imported from France.

  A humorous and confusing discussion of some of the disputed origins of popular rhymes can be found here.

  
  Full text and illustrations from this old collection of rhymes is here.

  And I’m outta here.  Doug and I are exhausted from a water
  run.  Spring is really sprung.  We saw the first mosquito of
  the season at the spring.  I suppose the sun faked it out today,
  and it probably won’t survive the icy night, but all the same it was a
  nasty shock seeing one this early.  On the way home, off to the
  side of the road, we also saw six or seven ravens and two bald eagles
  sharing a road-killed dog.  That’s another sign of the
  season.  This time of year, pickings are slim for the birds that
  don’t migrate, and they flock to whatever becomes available.
  

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