Has anyone ever noticed that nursery rhymes can be very graphic and morbid?

Question

HUmpty dumpty fell down and couldn't be put back together.
Jack and Jill fell down a hill.
Or maybe they were all just very clumsy?
What others can think about?

Answer 1

3 blind mice

ring a ring a roses - is about the black death

punch and judy is about a serial killer

you are right

Answer 2

Morbid perhaps but they come from a time in our dim history when parents were teaching, perhaps inculcating their children about what they thought were the facts of life in a time of political or even religious suppression. After all, this not something new in the present day.

For example, Humpty Dumpty was King George V of England : this nursery rhyme spoke of revolt of the Irish against their British masters.

The nursery rhymes served another purpose such as to remember great catastrophes such as the Black Plague : 'Ring a ring a rosie...and we all fall down.'

The Nursery rhymes that we teach our children, which are harmeless, I would argue, in themselves were often the attempts of parents to pass on to another generation, their values etc. Not much different to a parent of today.

Answer 3

maximum nursery rhymes have some variety of dark historical past to them. maximum persons understand how 'Ring around the Rosie' pertains to the super Plague. 'Rockabye little one' is creepy lyric-smart, and has some exceedingly morbid interpretations. 'London Bridge' grew to become into as quickly as interpreted to be approximately human sacrifice.

Answer 4

When the kids and grandkids were little I use to read to them. One of them
was Rock a bye baby that I would sing to them. I changed the words a little bit.
Rock a bye baby, on the tree top. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bow breaks the cradle will fall, and Jesus will catch you cradle and all.
To much violence in the first edition. : }

Answer 5

When old nursery rhymes were originally written they were for adult humor not children. They were passed off for children's stories to hide the underlying meanings. Strange, times sure have changes.
Thank God;)

Answer 6

it's more important to listen to the words than to visualize it. it's meant to help children learn to rhyme not to push someone off a wall or down a hill, nice thought, though

Answer 7

Yes a lot of them have hidden messages there probably is something that is written about them somewhere on line someone else is proably going to tell you exactly where to find them lol

Answer 8

You would be suprised what most rhymes are really about.

Ring around the rosie was about the plague! research them and you will never want to sing them again.

Answer 9

Yes, but it's a way to prepare the kids for the real world. LOL

Answer 10

Morbid, scary, and terrifying.
No wonder I kept looking under my bed, and in
the closet when I was a kid !