Nursery rhyme persuasive writing... I DOES IT

so I do a persuasive writing ayup
POSTPOSTPOST - here ya go XDD :D

Everyday thousands of them are read around the globe to children everywhere, but what are we really reading? That’s right I’m talking about nursery rhymes. Have you ever wondered about what these poems we recite so much off by heart actually mean? Did you know that most nursery rhymes originate from historical events such as black plague, slavery, death and injury? Three blind mice being chased by the the farmers wife who wields a carving knife, silver bells and cockle shells in Mary’s garden, a ring of rosies and a pocket full of posies.

These seem to be silly nonsensical verses which are fun and appeal to children but the truth is that many nursery rhymes have a dark side. I’m strongly opposed to nursery rhymes being told to children. What messages are being sent to our kids and siblings? 

Here are some of our favourite classic nursery rhymes and the darker meaning behind them, take “Ring around the Rosie’” for example. 

“Ring-a-ring-a-roses

A pocket full of posies,

Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down.”

This is supposedly referring to the Great Plague of London in 1665. The rash you would get (“roses”), herbs and spices to “purify” the air (“posies”), and finally sneezing and dying (“we all fall down”). This rhyme is also said to be sang by children during the European Black Death of 1347. The “ring” referring to the red spot that you would have if you had the disease. This ranks 9th place on the “Top ten Nursery Rhymes” national Booktrust list in the UK which surveyed around 2,500 people to find out the nations favourite nursery rhymes.

Another one of our favourite poems gone horribly wrong, “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” about a little girl who tends to her flower garden decorating it with beautiful silver bells and sea shells? Sounds nice doesn’t it?

 But sadly the Mary in this story actually refers to Mary Tudor (Mary I of England) also known as Bloody Mary. Mary was a Catholic and known to have killed many Protestants. England at the time was divided by the two religions.

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row”

It’s been said that the garden refers to the growing cemeteries as she kills Protestants. Silver bells and cockle shells were instruments of torture and “pretty maids” were devices used to behead people, just a coincidence perhaps?

 She was also said to have inspired the “Three Blind Mice” rhyme about three Protestant bishops that plotted against her. When she discovered this she had them tortured and killed. The bishops were portrayed as the mice in the poem blinded by Mary’s weapons of torture. Luckily these gruesome tales don’t have a rankings on the most popular nursery rhymes list. 

How about this.. ever listen to the words of the poem, “Clementine”? This poem is downright sinister even without a hidden meaning.

“Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling Clementine,

Thou art lost and gone forever,

Dreadful sorry, Clementine.

Drove the ducklings to the water,

Ev’ry morning just at nine,

Hit her foot against a splinter,

Fell into the foaming brine.

Ruby lips above the water,

Blowing bubbles soft and fine,

But alas, I was no swimmer,

Neither was my Clementine.

In a churchyard near the canyon,

Where the myrtle doth entwine,

There grow some rosies and some posies,

Fertilized by Clementine.”

Now that is just nasty! Flowers fertilized by a dead girl? Are you seriously going to sing this to children? This song or poem is said to be the words of a lover singing about the daughter of a miner in the 1849 California Gold Rush. He loses her when she drowns in a freak accident and in the real version results to Clementine’s little sister except that verse is usually left out of children’s books replaced by something else because it doesn’t seem morally appropriate. Apparently having Clementine’s dead body fertilize the soil around her grave is morally appropriate.

Are you really going to read these horrible poems to your young children and siblings? Practically encouraging them to sing about death and disaster? So... who really killed cock robin? I did mummy! It was fun!