I am currently studying psychology at Castle College and as a sideline, so much the interest is, I am getting deeply into the reasons for writing Nursery Rhymes, nonesensical verse and silly infantile literature.

As consequence, I have noticed through various trips to the Central Library over the past few weeks, that 'Humpy Dumpty' is indeed based on a true-life experience. The Owl and The Pussycat tale actually happened exactly the way it was written, by the much- learned Edward Lear and Alice's Wonderland actually existed - it was near Oswestry in Shropshire just off Salop Road by the side of the Bear Inn, to be precise.

Any information, once-upon-a-time would be greatly appreciated.

*feasibility ('i' after the 's', not 'a')

Study these and see what you come up with. ;)

Mods...if you edit can ya leave a few of the cleaner ones plssssss.

JACK AND JILL
Went up the hill
To have a little fun.
Stupid Jill
Forgot the pill
And now they have a son.

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
Her father shot it dead
Now it goes to school with her
Between two hunks of bread.

HEY DIDDLE, DIDDLE,
the cat did a tiddle,
all over the bedside clock,
The little dog laughed to see such fun
then died of electric shock.

SIMPLE SIMON met a Pieman
Going to the fair
Said Simple Simon to the Pieman
"What have you got there?"
Said the Pieman unto Simon
"Pies, you tw*t!"

HUMPTY DUMPTY sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings horses and all the kings men,
said "***** him, He's only an egg."

LITTLE MISS MUFFETT sat on a tuffet,
her clothes all tattered and torn.
It wasn't the spider that crept beside her,
But Little Boy Blue and his horn.

JACK BE NIMBLE, Jack be quick
Jack jumped over the candlestick
Silly old Jack he should've jumped higher
Goodness gracious great balls of fire!

LITTLE JACK HORNER sat in a corner
Eating his Christmas pie
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a lemon
And said 'What the hell's that doing in there?'

Originally posted by t020
*feasibility ('i' after the 's', not 'a')

from a person who can't spell "apalling"....

Anway.

Folk tales (of which some nursery rhymes are a subset of oral tradition) have been analysed in detail by Vladimir Iakovlevich Propp.

If you want some interesting reading on not only dividing form from meaning, but also further subdividing the form into structure and function (of the narrative), then Propp is your man.

Do a google search for Proppian Functions and you may find something. What's interesting is when you apply Proppian Functions to modern literature, which often reveals its roots in folk narratives.

I thought you might pick up on that one, my old sausage. That is why I placed it there for you to bend down and exert your hands upon the ungrammatically incorrectness of my sub-syntax.

But, yes. I do agree with the principal.

A tree surgeon who used to frequent our local treeery ( the only word in the Oxford Dictionary with a repetitive triple identical vowel sequence 'eee'. by the way) said that : 'a snowdrift is merely a beetroot'.

Fab

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
from a person who can't spell "apalling"....

Anway.



And another who can't spell "Anyway"

Originally posted by mojoworking
And another who can't spell "Anyway" :rolleyes: Didn't you miss a full stop out?.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
from a person who can't spell "apalling"....

Anway.



Typos will always happen..... as you demonstrate here with your 'y-less' version of 'anyway'. Blatant spelling mistakes on the other hand should NOT be tolerated.

Originally posted by Jon
:rolleyes: Didn't you miss a full stop out?.

Perhaps, but you made up for it by including a superfluous full stop after the question mark above.

Originally posted by mojoworking
And another who can't spell "Anyway"
My point exactly

<nibble>
<strike>

Georgie Porgy Pudding And Pie
Kissed The Girls And Made Them Cry
When the Boys Came Out To Play
He Kissed Them Too Because He Was Bisexual.

---

Mary had a little lamb
She kept it in a bucket
Every time the lamb jumped up
She saw the bulldog...

--

Rabbit's eyes full of pus
all the work of scientific us.

---

Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific!
In vain do I ponder thy nature specific--
Precariously poised in the ether capacious,
Closely resembling a gem carbonaceous;
Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific,
In vain do I ponder thy nature specific!

---

t020 at the Pearly Gates:
you may be surprised to find!

And St Peter standing by the book,
that Humphrey Osmond signed.

t020 walks slowly forward,
to a rising angel song.

and checks for his name in the register...
"hey, you spelled it wrong!"

"this is intolerable" quoth t020,
St.Peter's eyes were slits.

"the lord may be good and merciful" said he,
"but we've no room for pedantic gits".

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I am currently studying psychology at Castle College and as a sideline, so much the interest is, I am getting deeply into the reasons for writing Nursery Rhymes, nonesensical verse and silly infantile literature.

As consequence, I have noticed through various trips to the Central Library over the past few weeks, that 'Humpy Dumpty' is indeed based on a true-life experience. The Owl and The Pussycat tale actually happened exactly the way it was written, by the much- learned Edward Lear and Alice's Wonderland actually existed - it was near Oswestry in Shropshire just off Salop Road by the side of the Bear Inn, to be precise.

Any information, once-upon-a-time would be greatly appreciated.

Believe it or not I spent Xmas day in that particular Bear Inn - sister has recently moved to Oswestry, nice place if not a bit too quiet for me....

I stayed in The Bear Inn for a month or so when I first worked in Oswestry in the '80's. Coincidence or what!!

I thought Alice's wonderland was mostly in Oxford. The well she falls down is in Binsey, the shop kept by the sheep is on St Aldates, and the Ceshire Cat tree is in Christ Church. Or is it only the name 'Wonderland' that is in Oswestry?

The Grand Old Duke of York refers to real historical events, as far as I remember, and Georgie Porgie is about George IV.

Try these Sam for reference (and fun):

‘The Classic Fairy Tales’ and ‘The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren’ by Iona and Peter Opie

‘The Annotated Mother Goose’ by William S and Ceil Baring-Gould.

Thanks kindly, Carl.

Next year I am hoping to go to Vulgaria to have it out with the childcatcher out of Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang. I think it is deplorable how he treats the little kiddies.

I have written to his government ordering them to extradite him so that he can stand trial and be punished for his ghastly acts of cruelty, but they have just ignored me.

So I am going to fetch him myself.

The title still needs correcting.

Originally posted by t020
The title still needs correcting.

I thought about editing it to correct the spelling but that would have meant that your comments, and those following, would not have made sense, so I didn't.

I spelt 'feasibility' wrongly just to provoke comment.

I am extremely good at spieling.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I spelt 'feasibility' wrongly just to provoke comment.

I am extremely good at spieling.

Mission accomplished. :lol:

Mary had a little lamb,
the doctors where astounded.
And everywhere that Mary went,
gynecologists surrounded.

Originally posted by max
I thought about editing it to correct the spelling but that would have meant that your comments, and those following, would not have made sense, so I didn't.


How thoughtful of you, max....

Try "The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse" by Robert Rankin, it's all about the lives of nursery rhyme characters.

Try it 'cos I can't hack it, I don't like his geeky Pratchett style of writing :D...

hmm, I think the application of a stout stick is in order; it's a tradition or an old charter or something...

It is interesting to note that the giant beanstalk in the popular story whose title needs no mention, did not in fact grow in Jack's back garden, but began it's heavenward climb with its roots firmly anchored in his neighbour's garden, whe he had managed to lob the beans in disgust.

This, I am sure you will agree, asks questions as to the authenticity of some of these stories.

Re: Feasability (sic) study into the truth behind Nursery Rhymes

A recently published book: ‘Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme’ by Chris Roberts would seem to offer much of what you need for your research. There is an article about it in today’s on-line Telegraph and Amazon offers it for £12.00 plus delivery costs. From the review, and synopsis on Amazon, I would add it to my library if I had the cash to spare.

Here is part of the review:
‘ …Mr Roberts, a librarian at East London University, said his book came out of research he undertook for a series of walking tours around London.
While people already know that Ring a Ring o' Roses refers to the rash displayed by sufferers at the time of the Great Plague, it is less well known that Oranges and Lemons, a guide to the City of London, doubles as a lewd wedding song, he said. The line "here comes a candle to light you to bed", for example, is an apparent reference to the bride tempting her new bridegroom, while "here comes a chopper to chop off your head" alludes to the woman losing her virginity, or "maiden head"…’
:)

Sam you might find this interesting here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F03%2F02%2Fnrhym02. xml)

Originally posted by Mo
Sam you might find this interesting here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F03%2F02%2Fnrhym02. xml)

Thanks Mo - I mistakenly ascribed the article to The Times instead of The Daily Telegraph - I have edited the error:blush:

In earlier versions of Cinderella the ugly sisters used scissors to cut off their toes in an effort to fit into the glass (or fur if you translate the French correctly) slippers.

Wouldn't look too good in panto though.

Originally posted by Mo
Sam you might find this interesting here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F03%2F02%2Fnrhym02. xml)

Thanks Mo. I did indeed.

God knows what that spoon did to the poor little dish when they ran off!!

And I bet the little dog gave out a lewd cackle rather than a laugh.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
Thanks Mo. I did indeed.

God knows what that spoon did to the poor little dish when they ran off!!

And I bet the little dog gave out a lewd cackle rather than a laugh. All this while the cat was fiddling away as well. Strange stuff.

Originally posted by Moonolt
All this while the cat was fiddling away as well. Strange stuff.

Indeed. And the cow jumping over the bare bottom! Well!