Do nursery rhymes have hidden meanings? Many of them refer to events which took place centuries ago — and some are not nearly as innocent as they appear to be.
Revealed! Humpty Dumpty not an egg after all
Do nursery rhymes have hidden meanings? Many of them refer to events which took place centuries ago - and some are not nearly as innocent as they appear to be.
Nursery crimes?
The messenger came rushing into army HQ. "Bad news, sir," he said. "Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall." The general went pale. "Is the damage bad?" he asked. The messenger nodded. "Right," said the general. "Whatever it takes, Humpty Dumpty must be put back together."
This is the story we imagine behind the nursery rhyme, as an eyewitness might have reported it. But who was Humpty Dumpty?
Illustrations show Humpty as a giant egg. But in a recent tweet the writer Holly Bourne challenged this: "It's not in the lyrics, and deciding he's a giant egg is quite a random leap for someone to make."
The first depiction of Humpty as an egg is by John Tenniel in Lewis CarrollAn English author and poet known for his Alice in Wonderland series.'s book Through the Looking-Glass, which was published in 1872. But the rhyme itself is much older.
One theory is that Humpty Dumpty was actually the name of a large cannon. It was used in the English Civil WarA series of wars in England from 1642 to 1651 between Royalists led by Charles I and Parliament (followers known as Roundheads) over religious freedom and how the country was run. to defend Colchester, which was besieged by the RoundheadsA name for people who supported the Parliament of England during the English Civil War. in 1648.
The cannon was mounted on the city wall by the defending Royalists. But the attackers used their own cannon to destroy the wall beneath it, so that it fell to the ground. The Royalists tried to move it but found it was too heavy.
The suggestion is that the rhyme was made up by their enemies to poke fun at them. As Samantha Bellerose writes on the Nursery Rhyme Central website, "Many nursery rhymes do have a secret meaning behind them. They were once satirical, subversiveSeeking to disrupt a long established system. folk songs about historical events."
But those secret meanings are much disputed, and one expert on the Civil War, Robert Hodkinson, dismisses the idea that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon.1 The earliest accounts of the siege, he points out, do not give the cannon any name at all.
Tim Devlin, the author of a new book called Cracking Humpty Dumpty, agrees.2 According to him, Humpty Dumpty was "an exotic cocktail of boiled ale and brandy drunk by gypsies".
Another rhyme that is argued about is Ring A Ring O'Roses. Many people believe it refers to the Great Plague of 1665, with the "ring of roses" being a fatal rash, and sufferers sneezing before they fall down dead. But, says Tim Devlin:
"The earliest versions have nothing about sneezing... it is in fact a happy children's game like musical chairs which can be traced to the USA and Germany in the 18th Century."
Do nursery rhymes have hidden meanings?
Yes: They are a fascinating connection to the past. Many of them are coded messages from times when people did not dare express their disagreement with the government for fear of harsh penalties.
No: They perform a very useful task in entertaining young children and training them to learn things by heart. What they originally meant is generally lost in the mists of time and now irrelevant.
Or... It is not important, but it is intriguing. Who would have imagined that Dr Foster could be a reference to Edward I and his horse falling into a ditch at Gloucester in the 13th Century?
Keywords
Lewis Carroll - An English author and poet known for his Alice in Wonderland series.
English Civil War - A series of wars in England from 1642 to 1651 between Royalists led by Charles I and Parliament (followers known as Roundheads) over religious freedom and how the country was run.
Roundheads - A name for people who supported the Parliament of England during the English Civil War.
Subversive - Seeking to disrupt a long established system.
Revealed! Humpty Dumpty not an egg after all
Glossary
Lewis Carroll - An English author and poet known for his Alice in Wonderland series.
English Civil War - A series of wars in England from 1642 to 1651 between Royalists led by Charles I and Parliament (followers known as Roundheads) over religious freedom and how the country was run.
Roundheads - A name for people who supported the Parliament of England during the English Civil War.
Subversive - Seeking to disrupt a long established system.