Nursery Rhymes: Mirrors of a Culture

Author(s): Roberta Hawkins

Source: Elementary English , OCTOBER, 1971, Vol. 48, No. 6 (OCTOBER, 1971), pp. 617-
621
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41386949

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 Roberta Hawkins

English Teacher
Palm Desert Middle School
Palm Desert, California

Nursery Rhymes: Mirrors of a Culture

American English: technology by including words like sewing
machine, telephone, railroad, radio, and
Possum up the gum stump, T. V. In contrast to these relatively new
Cooney in the holler; verses of the United States, most British
Little girl at our house
Fat as she can waller.1 verses are brought down from the seven-
«
teenth through nineteenth centuries and
refer to the familiar rural animals and tools
British English: and country ways of life known at that
time:
I gave him some garters
To garter up his hose, I had a little hen, the prettiest ever seen,
And a little silk handerchief
She washed me the dishes, and kept the
To wipe his pretty nose.2 house clean.
She went to the mill to fetch me some flour;
Most readers of juvenile verse will light-
She brought it to me in less than an hour;
heartedly admit to delightful journeys intoShe baked me my bread, and she brewed me
the unreal world of a child's imagination. my ale,
She sat by the fire and told many a fine tale.3
However, more careful reading will reveal
«

that these nonsensical, ear-pleasing, seem-

ingly innocent verses of childhood soberlyThat the miller may grind his corn;
That the baker may take it,
reflect much of the world-view of a societyAnd into rolls make it.
and its unique features. And bring us some hot in the morn.4
A quick perusal reveals many differences
in vocabulary. Chinese verses contain
The damsels are churning for curds and
references to oil, hair cues, bean cakes,
whey;
incense, bean sprouts, priests, dragons,The lads in the fields are making hay.5
pagodas, red pepper flowers, lotus blossoms,
betel-nuts, rice soup, hemp, and chest pro-
To market, to market,
tectors that are worn by children. In her
To buy a plum bun.6
rhymes Catholic Mexico speaks of the
We can tell what a society eats from
Virgin Mary. Scottish verses tell of oatmeal
nursery rhymes. In America, it was:
broth, fish, heather, and plaids. Rhymes
from the United States reflect an accelerated
3de Angeli, M., Book of Nursery and Mother Goose
1Wood, Ray, The American Mother Goose (Phil- Rhymes (Garden City, 1954), p. 62.
adelphia, 1940), p. ix. 4 Ibid., p. 135.
2 de Angeli, M., Book of Nursery and Mother 5 Ibid., p. 27.
Goose Rhymes (Garden City, 1954), p. 35. 6 Ibid., p. 86.
617

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 618 Elementary English

Green corn, greenAnd in China:

corn,
Fotch along a Jimmy-john;
Fat meat, fat meat,Here's the place to get your rice,
Coarse rice oreat.7
That's what the Injuns fine,
Just to your mind,
And in China: Rice in the husk
Or cleaned by the wind.14
Grandpa holds the baby, And in Scotland:
He's sitting on his knee
Eating mutton dumplings
Will ye buy syboes [spring onions]?
With vinegar and tea.8 Will ye buy leeks?15
«

Delving deeper into the meaning of the

I was saying the beans are boiling nice
verses,
And iťs just about time to add the rice.9 we see that the child is taught the
attitudes of his people and the times. For
We know what French children like to eat example, in the Ba-Congo Negro society of
from this verse: Northern Angola, a little child playing a
Little King Pippin he built a fine hall
finger game is told of his people's feelings
toward children:
Pie-crust and pastry-crust that was the wall;
The windows were made of black pudding The thumb says, "I'm the master of the lot."
and white,
The forefingers says, "I'm the sign of
And slated with pancakes, you ne'er saw the danger."
like.10
The middle finger says, "I'm the tallest of
the crew."
The world-view presented to the child
The third finger says, "I'm not far behind:
includes sights of street vendors selling a bit more and I shall catch you."
good things to eat. In England, he hears: The little finger says, "Ah, but I'm the hope
of the town, for a town without the little
Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one is no town at all!"16
One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns.11
A British child learns he should honor
»
the monarch in this verse from 1651: "The
Smiling girls, rosy boys, rose is red, the grass is green,/ Serve Queen
Come and buy my little toys; Bess, our noble queen!"17 He learns that
Monkeys made of gingerbread,
Napoleon is to be feared, as we see in this
And sugar horses painted red.12
verse from Napoleon's time:
And in America:
Baby, baby, naughty baby,
Hush, you squalling thing, I say.
Cantaloupes! Cantaloupes! What is the
price? Peace this moment, peace,
Eight for a dollar, and all very nice.13
Or maybe Bonaparte will pass this way.18
Some verses from sixteenth to eighteenth
century England reflect the class barriers
7 Wood, Ray, The American Mother Goose (Phil-
adelphia, 1940) p. 42.
8 Headland, Isaac Taylor, Chinese Mother Goose 14 Headland, Isaac, Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes
Rhymes (New York, 1900), p. 15. (N. Y., 1900), p. 64.
9Ibid., p. 27. 15 Montgomerie, N. and W., Scottish Nurséry
10 Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, ed. Iona Rhymes (London., 1946), p. 60.
and Peter Opie (Oxford), p. 352. 16 Bett, Henry, Nursery Rhymes and Tales (Lon-
11 Smith, Jessie, The Little Mother Goose (New don, 1924), p. 11.
York, 1918), p. 119. 17 Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, ed. Iona
12Ibid., p. 119. and Peter Opie (Oxford. 1951). d. 374.
13Ibid., p. 1. 18 Ibid., p. 59.

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 Nursery Rhymes: Mirrors of a Culture 619

that were strikingly evident British and American

in English so- class emphasis in
thesethat
ciety at that time. It was true next verses:
marriage
to someone of a higher class was the only
way for a young woman toEngland:
raise her posi-
tion in society. This verse represents that
dream:
Hickety-pickety, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen.22
Curly locks! Curly locks! Wilt thou be mine?
Thou shalt not wash dishes, nor yet feed the
swine; United States:
But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,
And feed upon strawberries, sugar and Hickety-pickety, my black hen,
cream!19
She lays eggs for the railroad men.23
Young men in England of that day were
alert, too, to social-climbing or class-main- We see that expanding and pioneer-spirited
taining possibilities through marriage: America found the emphasis on technology
more appropriate to her society than the
Where are you going to, my pretty maid?
reference to class.
I'm going a-milking, sir, she said,
Sir, she said, sir she said, Nursery rhymes also concern themselves
Гт going a-milking, sir, she said. with the standards of behavior by which a
society lives. For instance, the child is re-
May I go with you, my pretty maid?
minded of proper kinship relationships in
You're kindly welcome, sir, she said. these verses from Scotland:

Say will you marry me, my pretty maid?

Yes, if you please, kind sir, she said. Oh, ye cannae shove yer Grannie aff the bus
For she's yer mammie's mammie.24
What is your father, my pretty maid? «

My father's a farmer, sir, she said.

What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
My face is my fortune, sir, she said.
Then I can't marry you, my pretty
maid. . . .20
This next verse, meant to be an infant-
bouncing game, draws the class line more
distinctly:
This is the way the ladies ride, prim, prim,
prim.
This is the way the gentlemen ride, trim,
trim, trim.
Presently come the country folks, hobblety
gee, hobblety gee!21
We can contrast the difference between
19 Smith, Jessie, The Little Mother Goose (New
York, 1918), p. 49.
20 Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, ed. Iana
and Peter Opie, (Oxford, 1951), p. 281.
21 Ibid., p. 257.
Last nicht I got an awful hammerin.'
Wha frae?
Ca'ns faither 'Greasy beard.'25
And in England:
I love you well, my little brother,
And you are fond of me;
Let us be kind to one another,
As brothers ought to be.26
The child also learns that there are be-
havior patterns that children should fol-
low, as he is told in these verses from
England:
22 de Angeli, M., Book of Nursery and Mothei
Goose Rhumes (Garden City, 1954), p. 103.
23 Wood, Ray, Fun in American Folk Rhymes
(Philadelphia, 1952), p. 84.
24 Opie, Iona and Peter, The Lore and Language
of Schoolchildren (London, 1959), p. 26.
25 Ibid., p. 26.
26 Smith, Jessie, The Little Mother Goose (New
York, 1918), p. 133.

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 620 Elementary English

Play, play, every day, And split his combinations.

Harry throws his time (England,
away. ten years after W. W. I)32
He must work and he must read,
And then he'll be a man indeed.27 2. Eena, meena, mina, mo
«
Where do all the Frenchmen go?
(England)33
Little Polly Flinders
Sat among the cinders
Eena, meena, mina, mo
Warming her pretty little toes;
Catch a nigger by the toe.
Her mother came and caught her,
(United States)34
And whipped her little daughter
For spoiling her nice new clothes.28 Along with historical changes in his
adaptation, a child might include substitu-
*

When Jack's a very good boy, tions for words no longer heard around
He shall have cakes and custard; him. Thus, "elecampane," an herb once
But when he does nothing but cry,
popular as a sick remedy, might become
He shall have nothing but mustard.29
"elegant pain," a more comprehensible
This one from China, in telling us whatphrase to the child and more representative
happens to Chinese children who do notof the vocabulary and the world he knows
at
behave, speaks of a custom now losing that moment.
favor in that country: Thus, in their altered form we see that
nursery rhymes or juvenile verses reflect
Her mother lost control of her the altered world of the child and the
Until she bound her feet
changed society in which he is living. How-
But now she's just as good a girl
As you will ever meet.30 ever, we can grasp an accurate picture of
this society at a particular point in its de-
Although children have an ear for soundvelopment only if it can be determined at
and insist on maintaining their belovedwhat time these verses were composed or
rhymes, and chants as they know them,introduced into a culture. Since many of
they do change words or ideas in the versesthem are of vague ancestry and age, this
as they are appropriate to their own coun-determination is often difficult to make.
try and age. We saw it happen in "Hickety- Those works which now stand as juvenile
pickety," and here are other examples: verse or Mother Goose rhymes are the
filtered down versions of ballads, folk
1. The King of France went up the hill
With forty thousand men; songs, tales, proverbs, tavern or military
The King of France came down the hill, refrains, popular songs, satirical political
And ne'er went up again. verses, and riddles- all written by adults
(England, Charles I, 1630) 31 for an adult world. But adults have brought
*
their own world into the realm of children's
Kaiser Bill went up the hill verse, and there it has remained. There are
To conquer all the nations; no doubt few features of a society that have
Kaiser Bill came down the hill
not been intertwined in some way in their
27 Ibid., p. 29.
schemes, and they can truly be said to
mirror the culture that gave them life.
28 Smith, Jessie, The Little Mother Goose (New
York, 1918), p. 119.
29 Ibid., p. 133. 32Opie, Iona and Peter, The Lore and Language
of Schoolchildren, p. 26.
30 Headland, Isaac, Taylor, Chinese Mother Goose
Rhymes (New York, 1900), p. 70. 33 Bett, Henrv, Nurseru Rhumes and Tales . d. 57.
31 Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, p. 34Ibid.,
15. p. 58.

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 Nursery Rhymes: Mirrors of a Culture 621

List of Works Cited

Opie, Iona and Peter, ed. Oxford Dictionary of
Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, 1951.
Baring-Gould, W. S. and Ceil. The Annotated
Opie, Iona and Peter. The Lore and Language of
Mother Goose. New York, 1962. Schoolchildren. London, 1959.
Bett, Henry. Nursery Rhymes and Tales: TheirRoss, Patricia Fent. The Hungry Moon: Mexican
Origin and History. London, 1924. Nursery Tales. New York, 1946.
de Angeli, M. Book of Nursery and Mother Goose
Smith, Jessie Willcox. The Little Mother Goose.
Rhymes. Garden City, 1954. New York, 1918.
Headland, Isaac Taylor. Chinese Mother Goose
Wood, Ray. Fun in American Folk Rhymes.
Rhymes. New York, 1900. Philadelphia, 1952.
Wood, Ray. The American Mother Goose. Phila-
Montgomerie, Norah and William. Scottish Nursery
Rhymes. London, 1946. delphia, 1940.

Marquis E. Shattuck

Dr. Marquis E. Shattuck, a retired assistant superintendent of the Detroit Public

Schools and president of NCTE in 1938, died July 14 at the age of 82. Mr. Shattuck, a
native of Pontiac, Michigan, retired in 1959 after serving 40 years with the Detroit
Public Schools. He began as an English instructor at Northwestern High School, Detroit,
in 1919 and became a supervising instructor in English in 1925, supervisor of language
education in 1928, and director of that department in 1929. He assumed the post of
divisional director in 1944, and that of assistant superintendent the following year.
Mr. Shattuck earned his bachelors degree from Albion College, which later awarded
him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. He received his master's degree from the
Harvard School of Education.
For the Council, Mr. Shattuck served as a director-at-large and a member of the
NCTE/MLA Committee on Basic Aims for English Instruction. His other activities
included the presidencies of the Detroit Schoolmen's Club, the Teachers' Mutual Aid
Association, Detroit (1939 and 1945), the Detroit Historical Society (1958), and both
the Detroit and the Michigan chapters of the Sons of the American Revolution. After
retirement, he served as director of the Detroit Hearing Center.
Mr. Shattuck is survived by his wife Doris, two daughters and six grandchildren.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Detroit Historical Society Memorial Fund, 5401
Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202.

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