What is the meaning of the child-hood limerick, "Ring Around the Rosies/A Pocket Full of Posies"?

Question

This is how it goes:


Ring Around the Rosies,

A Pocket Full of Posies,

Ashes!

Ashes!

We all fall DOWN!!!

Just curious.

Does anyone remember how the child-hood game "Ring Around the Rosies/ A" Poket Full of went?

Great discussion everyone!

Thanks! ♥

Answer 1

back in the middle ages, when the bubonic plague (the black death) was around, those suffering from it would carry around flowers to take away from the stench. so many died from the plague that they would burn the bodies.

Answer 2

It's about the Black Plague that swept Europe after a ship from Asia that had rats/fleas on board that carried the disease reached Italy during 14th century. The origins of this little ditty are disputed, though.

Ring Around the Rosies= the first symptom of the Black Death- circular, red rashes that formed on the skin.

A Pocket Full of Posies= the practice of carrying flower in one's pocket, which was thought to prevent contracting the disease. (it didn't work so well)

Ashes! Ashes!= instead of burying the dead, the infested corpses were burned. it can also mean the coughing of the victims.

We All Fall Down!= millions died from the plague, so this line reflects those deaths.

I used to sing this limerick, too, when I was in pre-school/kindergarden. When I learned of its meaning, I was shocked, and it never left my memory.

Answer 3

Ring around the Rosie's: that is the rash that some who had the plague got
Pocket full of Posie: they believe it was cause by bad air or smells so carrying flowers to hold to your nose would protect you
Ashes,ashes all fall down. Soon after the infected person started to sneeze they would die because the infection had got to the lungs.

Answer 4

Ahhh yes, back to my childhood. A group of kids holding hands and singing as they spin the circle in a dizzying effect of aroundness. A jump forward on Ashes, a second jump in to the middle of the circle on the second Ashes.......then everyone down to the ground, rolling on your shoulders and then back to let your feet hit the ground. Boom! your dead!

ring aroud the rosies
(the initial sore that was called a rose with an odd coloration around it)

pocket full of posies
(people would actually walk around with flowers in the pocket to 1 ward them from the plague and 2 make everything smell better)

Ashes, Ashes
(a deffinite remark about how everyone who fell victim of the plague were burned in mass pyres to help stop the spread)

we all fall down
(mentions the speed at which one became sick and then fainted, or died...depending on how far along they were. Everyone thought this was the end of the world.....the AIDS of their time)

interesting to point out, animals that take ill in mass flocks or herds are also burned, even in today's worls.. It's a money saving situation.

Answer 5

It comes from The Bubonic Plague (Black Plague). The fleas bit the rats and the rats got in the human's food people ate the food and they got it.

Ring around the rosies: Rings on their skin were like pink or red.
Pocket full of posies: Carried flowers to make them not smell.
Ashes: They burned their bodies and their belongings so the plague would not spread.
We all fall down: they die.

Answer 6

Ring around the Rosies = the red round rash, which was the first symptom of the "Black Death"

A Pocket Full of Posies = the fragrant herbs that were supposed to keep one from contracting the disease AND to help alleviate the smell of rotting and/or burning flesh.

Ashes! Ashes! = In a desperate effort stop the spread of plague the bodies were often burnt.

We all fall DOWN! = Death.

This is what my mother, and grandmothers told me...however snopes.com claims this explanation to be false, stating that it is "simply a nursery rhyme of indefinite origin and no specific meaning, and someone, long after the fact, concocted an inventive "explanation" for its creation"...read their version at http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm...

Answer 7

It definitely started during the plague, but I thought it was based in funeral rites. Ring around the Rosie was reciting the Rosary. Pocket full of posies represented flowers for the dead. Ashes! Ashes! was from Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust and for the ashes of the burned bodies.

Answer 8

It comes from the bobanic plague.
Ring aroudn the rosies - when someone caught the plague rose color circles with rings aroudn them would appear on the skin
A pocket full of posies - people believed if you put an orange in your pocket with cloves (i think) in them it'd ward off the plague they were called posies
Ashes - The bodies and clothing etc had to be burned
We all fall down - most of Europe died from the plague and I think empires etc fell. So baiscly it means everyone died.

Answer 9

I heard that it was sung by the men who helped pick up the dead bodies during the Black Plague. "Ashes ashes we all fall down", were all the deceased people, and "Ring around the rosies", came from the men going in circles, picking up the bodies. I know it sounds awful; but that's what I heard.

Answer 10

it was based on the BLACK PLAGUE.it killed almost half the europen population in the middle ages. the plague was carried by infected fleas who bit the rats which passed it on to the humans. the people who caught the disease carried around posies in their pockets to cover up the stench. they smelled of rotting flesh because the disease basicly made you rot the death. the ashes part of the song came from the way the disease made your skin turn black and fall of, so it was like ashes. 'we all fall down' just means that they died.

Answer 11

It was responding to the black plague, the Rosie's being the marks or boils that you would get on your skin and the Poise's being the herbs that you would have on your person to try and combat the sickness and the falling down being the dying you would do.