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Nursery Rhymes on the dark side.
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Posted
Maybe not about art, unless you're like me and find inspiration in these things. I've posted a sketch based on the 'Mary, Mary quite contrary' nursery rhyme. I came across it whilst reading about Queen Mary 1 (Henry VIII's daughter). I hadn't known this rhyme was a bitter satire about her. It made me think about other rhymes.
Ring around the rosy,
a pocket full of posies.
Atishoo, Atishoo,
All fall down.
I expect we all know that one. It's very old and about the plague. A symptom was a red patch with a ring around it. It was thought the plague was carried by foul smells, so people took to filling their pockets with flowers to ward off the smell. Sneezing was another symptom. The last line speaks for itself. In some versions it's 'ashes' not 'atishoo'. (I'm familiar with the 'atishoo' version...'ashes' works in the same way, because they burnt the plague victims.)
Here's a spooky one...no idea what it's about....
As I was going up the stairs,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish that man would go away.
A favorite of mine is this one, because the last two lines are so unexpected...
Goosey, goosey gander,
Where shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs,
and in my Ladies chamber.
There I met an old man,
who wouldn't say his prayers.
So I took him by the left leg
and threw him down the stairs.
Weird and very precise...'by the LEFT leg.' ??? One explanation for this links it with priest holes during the Tudor and Cromwellian era. Who knows.
So...not really art, but I find these oddities fascinating. And for someone like me, who likes illustration, they are a source of pictures.
Not really expecting much interplay on this, but I find it interesting, and hope you do.
Lew.
Posted
When I joined the RAF in 1960s, some of the older instructors would dismiss the left footers at church parade. Left footers were the Roman Catholics who went to there own service, along with other denominations,fit inwith your theory rethe Goosey Gander rhyme.
I to find inspiration in may things that trigger a painting, often when not expecting it.
Posted
Yes Dixie, I recall the 'left-footer' tag from my service days in the 60's. Different times. The goosey gander theory isn't mine, it's something I read in an article. It makes a kind of sense, but who really knows? You may be right Tony, but not about the examples I've given. Ring a rosy would be easy, but I don't want to draw plague victims. With a lot of these things the challenge is how to present the idea...With the Mary, Mary quite contrary picture I posted, I thought a mad looking Mary would be enough with the rhyme. But 'a man who wasn't there?'. Maybe something will come to me. It's certainly ripe pickings, and when you throw in the old versions of fairy tales, it's an embarrassment of ideas.
Posted
Take a look at this when you get time Lew. Quite revealing.
https://www.bustle.com/articles/73136-8-nursery-rhymes-with-bizarre-hidden-meanings-because-peter-pumpkin-eater-is-a-murderer
Posted
I had a look, Jim. Lots of great stuff in there, and eye-opening in that it seems most of these old nursery rhymes are soaked in ancient blood. I THINK this site has the stuff about 'Mary, Mary, quite contrary' wrong. They attribute it to MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 'during her REIGN when she persecuted the protestants'. I'm pretty sure Mary Queen of Scots DIDN'T get to 'reign.' Might be wrong. The contrary rhyme is attributed the Mary 1, (Henry VIII's daughter) who definitely DID reign AND persecute the protestants. But your link does confirm that the 'silver bells etc' were torture instruments. Either way, it's still a nasty origin for a nursery rhyme.
That's the trouble, we're swamped with information these days, but a lot of it contradicts itself.
Posted
There's no actual historical record of the Mary/Mary rhyme until much later Lew, casting doubt on what's rumour and what's true. Some undoubtedly are, like the "Ring o'roses" rhyme, and sing song of sixpence was much darker originally in 1744. :
<dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 24.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Sing a Song of Sixpence,</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 24.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">A bag full of Rye,</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 24.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Four and twenty Naughty Boys,</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 24.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Baked in a Pye.<sup id="cite_ref-Opie1997_1-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-size: 19.9245px;">[1]</sup></dd>
Posted
Im afraid the man who wasn't there isn't a nursery rhyme, just a modern poem
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today,
Oh how I wish he'd go away!"
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...
Posted
Well, there you go, David...I didn't know that. You learn something everyday. I've looked it up...didn't bother before, because I'd assumed it was a very old rhyme...and I find it's part of a much longer poem written in 1899. 'Antigonish' by an American poet.
In fact the more I look into these old rhymes the more suspect their origins become. For the Mary Mary rhyme there are many versions as I've quoted. But it seems there are many differently worded versions, including one that WAS applied to Mary Queen of Scots, but with a different interpretation of the words. So maybe it's all a load of tosh. Probably some bloke in a pub, back goodness knows when, coming up with HIS idea of what the words mean, and over time they've become 'fact'.
So no more nursery pics from me.