It’s still up for debate, but some people believe that Ring-a-ring-o’-roses is actually about the Great Plague of 1665, just a year before the Great Fire of London. The speaker wanders through the house as though he’s looking for something. One might read this as the man spreading the STD he was given until he arrives at his “lady’s chambers,” bringing the disease home. Other interpretations don’t consider disease or prostitution at all. Instead, some scholars believe this poem was written with itinerant Catholic priests in mind, using the image of a priest hole and the way these men were treated during the reign of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, and later Oliver Cromwell.

This one is supposedly either a comment on the reaction of Mary, Queen of Scots to John Knox, a prominent minister who had it out for the Scottish royal family, or just a silly rhyme about the writer’s stepdaughter. You decide! Three Blind Mice” is supposedly yet another ode to Bloody Mary’s reign, with the trio in question believed to be a group of Protestant bishops—Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Radley, and The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer—who (unsuccessfully) conspired to overthrow the queen and were burned at the stake for their heresy. Critics suggest that the blindness in the title refers to their religious beliefs. 7. Eeny Meeny Miny Mo // Early 19th Century GONDER, v. (1) to ramble in conversation, to become childish. W. CHES. (2) to go heedlessly. MID-CHES. "Wheer art gonderin to?" Mama Lisa’s Christmas Around The World is a celebration of the diversity and love with which many different cultures mark this joyful time of year.

Alliteration: can be seen when the writer repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “Goosey goose gander” in line one and “Wither” and “wander” in line two. I fear MID-CHESHIRE [a correspondent to the newspaper] did not read my communication of the 12th with care, or he would have noticed that I stated distinctly the particular district in which the words I gave are used. I must therefore beg to state again that South Cheshire is the district to which I referred, and he writes from Mid-Cheshire. Now it is well known that dialect words are used in one part of a county that are never heard in another part. ... "Gondering," to wander heedlessly, is used with the same meaning in South Cheshire [as in Mid-Cheshire]; and "gonder," a noun, is applied to person, and signifies one who does not mind where he is going. My Meaning: A morality tale on the importance of always keeping bug spray handy. Ring Around the Rosie/Ring a Ring o’ Roses

The second part presents beloved traditions and songs from many different nations. The songs are given in the original languages and with English translations. The priest hunter searches the house upstairs and downstairs, until they find an old man in the lady’s room. When asked to swear his allegiance to the Queen and the Protestant faith, he ‘wouldn’t say his prayers’. In the lyrics above, there is a somewhat happy ending, as the little boy down the lane still gets a third of the profits. Goosey goosey gander’is an eight-line nursery rhyme. The version analyzed below is the most common, but there are several other alternate versions and substituted lines that will also be discussed. For example, some other versions use four additional lines at the end of the poem. But, in this popular modern version, the lines rhyme ABCB DEFE. There is also a possible half-rhyme with “gander” and “wander,” depending on if readers are willing to slightly alter their pronunciation. The lines are also quite similar in length. Of the eight, six contain six syllables, while the others have five and eight. So while Darlington and Holland agree as to the sense "walk or go heedlessly," they have quite different alternative meanings for the verb gonder.

While no one can be certain of the identity of the mysterious man who meets an unfortunate end in this rhyme, the best guess seems to be a priest. Enjambment: can be seen when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines three and four as well as lines five and six. So what’s the real explanation? One theory holds that the lyrics don’t mean anything. They were just something for kids to recite as they skipped in a ring—the closest young Protestants could come to dancing in the 1880s, as their elders had banned that particular form of entertainment. At the time of the plague in 1665, it was still believed that disease could spread through unpleasant odours, a belief known as miasma theory. Some have suggested [ according to whom?] that this rhyme refers to priest holes—hiding places for itinerant Catholic priests during the persecutions under King Henry VIII, his children Edward, Queen Elizabeth and, later, under Oliver Cromwell. Once discovered the priest would be forcibly taken from the house ('thrown down the stairs') and treated badly. [3] Amateur historian Chris Roberts suggests further that the rhyme is linked to the propaganda campaign against the Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VIII. [4] "left leg" was a slang term for Catholics during the reign of Edward VI. [4] "Can't say his prayers" could refer to the banning of Latin prayers and the mandate to use the English-language Book of Common Prayer. [4] [5]

With regard to the origin of gander in the sense of "take a long look at," it's interesting to compare the definitions of gonder in Thomas Darlington, Folk-Speech of South Cheshire (1887) with the corresponding definitions in Robert Holland, A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Cheshire (1886)—just one year earlier.

Poor tafferel ruined tawpies! What are ye gaun gaindering about that gate for, as ye didna ken whilk end o' ye were uppermost?" The title and first line of the song might also refer to the march of Cromwell’s soldiers in “goose-step”, in the mid 17th century, after the Civil War. “Goosey, Goosey Gander” Lyrics Egerton Leigh, A Glossary of Words Used in the Dialect of Cheshire (1877) essentially repeats Wilbraham's wording for gander-month and adds two entries for gonder: My Meaning: The ring of roses is a fairy circle, and the poseys are a ward meant to protect the singer from the fairies. It did not work. The song was first recorded in 1784 by Gammer Gurton in his nursery rhymes collection The Nursery Parnassus (or Garland).

Ladybird, Ladybird is also about 16th Century Catholics in Protestant England and the priests who were burned at the stake for their beliefs. No, not the pop song. This seemingly endless nursery rhyme (after the cat, we get a dog, a cow, a maiden, a man, and so forth) is rumored to have been based on the 17th-century Cherrington Manor in Shropshire, England. Or at least, that’s what the residents of Shropshire would like you to believe. They think that the ‘roses’ aren’t actually flowers, but instead refer to the red skin rash that some plague sufferers experienced. The innocent tunes do draw attention away from what's going on in the rhyme; for example the drowned cat in Ding dong bell, or the grisly end of the frog and mouse in A frog he would a-wooing go”, music historian Jeremy Barlow, a specialist in early English popular music, tells me. “Some of the shorter rhymes, particularly those with nonsense or repetitive words, attract small children even without the tunes. They like the sound and rhythm of the words; of course the tune enhances that attraction, so that the words and the tune then become inseparable.” He adds, “The result can be more than the sum of the parts.” The poem is separated into two parts, the first in which the speaker wanders through his home as though he’s looking for something. He goes upstairs and downstairs and eventually makes his way into his lady’s chamber. Then, he finds an old man who “wouldn’t say his prayers” and throws him down the stairs. The poem ends abruptly without an explanation for these actions. This has led to several different interpretations, as discussed below.A lot of children's literature has a very dark origin,” explained Lerer to Today.com. “Nursery rhymes are part of long-standing traditions of parody and a popular political resistance to high culture and royalty.” Indeed, in a time when to caricature royalty or politicians was punishable by death, nursery rhymes proved a potent way to smuggle in coded or thinly veiled messages in the guise of children's entertainment. In largely illiterate societies, the catchy sing-song melodies helped people remember the stories and, crucially, pass them on to the next generation. Whatever else they may be, nursery rhymes are a triumph of the power of oral history. And the children merrily singing them to this day remain oblivious to the meanings contained within.