what do the words in ring around the rosie mean?

Question

here it is
ring around the rosie
pockets full of posies
ashes ashes
we all fall down

Answer 1

"Ring a Ring O'Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is a nursery rhyme or children's song and game that first appeared in print in 1881 but was recited to the current tune at least as early as the 1790s.
Its an old poem left over from the days of the Black Death, or Plague that ravaged London England.
Plague interpretation
A popular interpretation alleges that the rhyme is connected with the Great Plague of London in 1665, or perhaps earlier outbreaks of bubonic plague in England.All available evidence and research suggests Ring a Ring O'Roses was not linked to the plague until the 20th century. Regardless, this interpretation has entered into popular culture and is often used to reference the plague obliquely.

This purported plague link seems to originate with the movement for finding origins of folk-songs, which was popular in the early 20th century. For example, according to the common forms of the plague interpretation, the 'falling down' has always involved dropping to the ground as the rhyme is recited, evoking the death from the plague. This conjecture has evolved into a complex explanation suggesting possible plague interpretations for every line. For other attempts to attribute 'hidden meaning' to other such rhymes see Sing a Song of Sixpence, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, and Cock Robin.

According to this interpretation, the first line evokes the round red rash that would break out on the skin of plague victims. The second line's "pocket full of posies" would have been a pocket in the garment of a victim filled with something fragrant, such as flowers that aimed to conceal the smell from the sores and the dying people. A second creative explanation for this line is that it referred to the purported belief that fresh-smelling flowers, nosegays, and pomanders would purify the air around them thus warding off disease, or that they would invoke sneezing, the idea being that sneezing helps to prevent contraction of the disease. A third possibility includes the idea that "posies" are derived from an Old English word for pus, in which case the pocket would be referring to the swelling sore. "Ashes, ashes" would refer to when people alive and dead were gathered up into piles and lit on fire in a belief that burning the diseased bodies would not allow the disease to spread. Several alternate endings to the song exist, one being: "atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down," interpreted as invoking the sneezing before "we all fall down," the eventual succumbing to death.

European and 19th century versions of the rhyme suggest that this 'fall' was not a literal falling down, but a curtsy or other form of bending movement that was common in other dramatic singing games. Moreover, due to the wide variety of versions sharing the same dance and the same tune, the Opies and many scholars since conclude that the tune and the dance-game form the core of 'Ring a Ring O'Roses', rather than the words which are popular today. Before 1898 there appeared to be no English-language standardisation of the words, and Lady Gomme collected 12 versions of the game, only one of which is similar to the ones that are conjecturally linked to the plague.

The plague interpretation is generally considered to be a recent innovation. It is first cited in 1951 by Peter and Iona Opie. It thus forms an important reference for 20th and 21st century culture, but has never been authentically linked to any early version of the rhyme. In this sense, the origin of the Ring a Ring O'Roses is likely to be unrelated to the plague.

Words
In the 1881 edition of Mother Goose it appears as:

Ring a ring o' roses,
A pocketful of posies.
Tisha! Tisha!
We all fall down.
In the UK, it is usually sung like this:

Ring a ring o'roses
A pocketful of posies
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo (imitative of sneezing)
We all fall down.
Several other verses exist, although they are not as commonly known:

The King has sent his daughter
To fetch a pail of water
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo
We all fall down.
The bird up on the steeple
Sits high above the people
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo
We all fall down.
The cows are in the meadow
Lying fast asleep
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo
We all get up again.
In some areas of the UK, a second verse is also added;

Ashes in the water, ... all the children stoop down and swish their hands on the floor
Ashes in the sea, ... continue the same motion
We all jump up,
With a one, two three! ... everyone jumps into the air with their hands up
In Ireland, it is usually sung thus:

Ring around the 'rosies
A pocketful of posies
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo (imitative of sneezing)
We all fall down.
The most common variation of the song in the USA:

Ring around the rosies
Pocketful of posies
Ashes, ashes
We (or They) all fall down
In the Southern U.S. (most specifically, in Louisiana), it is usually sung as thus:

Ring around the rosey
Pocket full of posies
Upstairs, downstairs
We all fall down
In Canada, it is usually sung as thus:

Ring around the rosey
A pocket full of posies
Husha, husha (imitative of sneezing)
We all fall down
In Australia, it is usually sung thus:

Ring a ring a rosy
A pocketful of posies
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo (imitative of sneezing)
We all fall down.
Sometimes the third line is changed to:

Husha, husha
As opposed to ashes, ashes or a variation thereof.

Sometimes the verses are added:

Cows are in the meadow
Eating buttercups
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo
We all jump up
or:

Cows are in the meadow
Eating all the grass
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo
Who's up last (all jump up)
or:

Bringing up the posies
We all pop up!
Children stand in a circle holding hands and skipping in one direction, clockwise or counter-clockwise, as they sing the song. At the end of the last line, the group falls down into a heap.

Answer 2

Ring around the Rosie is NOT about the Black Plague. That is a popular misconception. I answered this once before and actually got two angry e-mails. Check out the site below. Incidentally Wikipedia does not count as a legitimate source of info. Just ask the recently back from the dead comedian Sinbad.

Answer 3

Wikipedia has an interesting article on the variations on this song, the words of which have only been standardized recently. The main variation, and the article title, is "Ring a Ring of Roses."

The article describes a popular theory, that the words that we know describe the rose-like rash of victims of the Great Plague of the 1670s. This was suggested by the folklorists, Peter Opie and his wife, in the 1950s. The Wikipedia article disputes this interpretation and suggests that it is something like a modern urban myth, important for understanding 20th century popular culture but not being definitive as far as the words of the song are concerned.

Instead, according to Wikipedia, therre has been continuity in terms of the tune and the dance, which involves a deep curtsey (the "all fall down" phase of the modern song) and for which various words developed after the children's round dance was very much rooted in children's culture.

NOTE: My 18-month old granddaughter is just now beginning to sing this song and do the dance, which she has learned in day care.

Answer 4

I was always told this ryme went back to the Plague in Europe. You would get a red rash with a ring around it when you got the Balck Death. A pocket full of posies was supposed to protect you. Ashes Ashes, we all fall down referred to death. I have heard other stories about this, but this one makes sense to me.

Answer 5

During the time of the black (bubonic) plague, people would circle around the sick person and perform various "rituals" to try to help heal that person.
Thus, "ring around the..."

Roses and Posies were often part of the ritual as were ashes.

"We all fall down" is significant of the rampant speed at which the plague spread and killed people.

Kinda "sick" that this song is one we teach to our children for use during times of fun & play.

Answer 6

It's about the bubonic plague

I have forgotten the ring around the rosie part but
Posies were supposed to ward off the plague
People smeared ashes on themselves also to keep the plague away
and "we all fall down" meaning we all get sick and die

Answer 7

KIds, rather children would hold hands and form a circle and sing that while walking in one direction. Something to the tune of " Pocket full of posies, all fall down ? "

Answer 8

it's a rhyme about the black plague
black rings around red sores
people thought posies kept them from getting sick
the dead had to be burned
most people died

Answer 9

its a sick ryhm about some time with the plauge (blu bonik??) or somthin where they had to put possies and potpori in there pockets so they wouldnt smell the dead boddies becuase people where dying faster than they could take them away, ashes ahses is them burning bodys and housed with the plauge and we all fall down is well you all dead ! -

Answer 10

Watch Shidlers List, they sang that when they burned bodies.Or read about war camps.