2006-08-01 21:32:16 · 16 answers · asked by TellMe 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
According to Martin Gardner, in The Annotated Mother Goose, the Humpty Dumpty rhyme is a riddle. Riddling rhymes were a popular source of entertainment for many centuries. The answer to the Humpty Dumpty riddle is, of course, "an egg."
The first appearance in print, in 1810, is slightly different from the version we know today:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
Threescore men and threescore more
Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.
Another variation that dates back at least to the early 1800s has the last two lines:
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Could not set Humpty Dumpty up again.
The best-known version today, of course, ends with the line "Could not put Humpty together again."
Lewis Carroll's version gives the last line as "Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty in his place again," which, Alice observes, "is much too long for the poetry."
Although it first appeared in print in 1810, the rhyme is certainly older, but how much older is a matter of dispute. The Oxford English Dictionary gives Humpty Dumpty as the name of an ale-and-brandy drink of the late 17th century, and also as "a short clumsy person of either sex."
For other example of riddle rhymes, you might check out the chapter "Riddles in the Dark" in The Hobbit.
2006-08-01 21:43:43 · answer #1 · answered by Seely 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Humpty Dumpty was a clumsy idiot.
2006-08-02 04:35:50 · answer #2 · answered by bittersweet 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i was one of the men that put humpty dumpty together again
2006-08-02 04:37:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. I saw the pictures in the fairy tale books and he was a great big egg.
2006-08-02 04:35:52 · answer #4 · answered by Cub6265 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was royalty back in his times. Hence all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put him back together again.
Basically a loser punk born with good fortune and found a way to piss it away. Or so they say.
2006-08-02 04:40:44 · answer #5 · answered by Dirtt 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is a FRIKKIN brilliant question!!!!!
No-one knows. He was drawn that way, but the rhyme predates that!!
Maybe it signifies the fracturing of one's conciousness if you do not pick a point of view....
Sweet, LOVED this question!!!!!!!!!!
10/10!!
2006-08-02 04:53:07 · answer #6 · answered by OraclewannaB 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. The book clearly describes him as one and the illustrations in that book show him as one.
2006-08-02 04:37:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh I know alright! Why? I am a pure genious. Next question?
2006-08-02 04:36:07 · answer #8 · answered by paige b 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As written in the GOOD BOOK....and told by some of the King's men.
Actually, he was a potato .......
2006-08-02 04:37:24 · answer #9 · answered by SHIH TZU SAYS 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he was a big egg with a soft center
2006-08-02 04:45:32 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋