Songs for the Forgotten: The Role of Nursery Rhymes
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
Hark, hark, the dogs do bark,
The beggars are coming to town,
Some in rags and some in jags,
And some in velvet gowns.
--Old English Nursery Rhyme
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
O how I wish he'd go away.
--The Little Man Who Wasn't There, by William Mearns, 1899.
Old English nursery rhymes are wonderful priceless jewels. They can never be underestimated. The significance of a nursery rhyme can't be confined to teaching the first rudimentary aspects of language to children or as a form of early entertainment. For a nursery rhyme can assume the form of a song or a poem and can inspire storytelling. It inspires children to be adventurous and audacious with the play of words. It is when some of us lose this courage to play with words by rendering our stories too realistic that we can lose something that is precious--which is a childlike sense of wonder!
Unfortunately, some parents rein in on the imagination of children by telling children to 'grow up' and get done with or 'out of' nursery rhymes. It seems like mere babble and unintelligible nonsense to them. Yet some of the best poems are clearly inspired by nursery rhymes. For instance, you could be forgiven for believing the first part of the American poem 'The Little Man Who Wasn't There' by William Mearns was not a nursery rhyme! Judge for yourself!
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today,
I do so wish he'd go away.
The poem was inspired by the legend of a ghost that haunted a house in Nova Scotia, in Canada. But when I heard this poem I thought the voice of the narrator reminded me of how some residents in blocks of flats in Moscow frown at the unwanted presence of homeless people who can sleep overnight on the first floor. The main point is surely that nursery rhymes can inspire profound poetry therefore it is myopic to discourage them. We are never too old to appreciate them.
Of course, some folklorists have written a lot of nonsense about the origins of old nursery rhymes which can neither be refuted or confirmed. The origins and roots of nursery rhymes tend to be forgotten—or sometimes maybe exaggerated. Is it fair to claim that 'Humpty Dumpty' is based on historical events such as the French revolution of 1789 or that the rhyme about the Grand Old Duke of York is about an actual battle which the British army lost? The danger is you can speculate about the origins of those nursery rhymes until the cows come home! You can easily get carried away.
Although it can be highly problematic to pinpoint the origins or offer an interpretation of a nursery rhyme we can identify at least the sentiments of some nursery rhymes as expressing sympathy and compassion for the plight of the underdog as well as the homeless. The English historian Christopher Hill quoted the nursery rhyme 'Hark, Hark, the Beggars Do Come to Town' as reflecting how the poorest parts of society were being forced to move to cities to obtain work after being evicted from their land by enclosures during the 16th and 17th centuries. But other nursery rhymes reflect the plight of coping with overwhelming poverty and living in confined and limited overcrowded conditions.
There is a surrealist and absurd aspect about those rhymes. Just look at the rhyme of the old woman who lived in a shoe. It goes:
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread:
Then scolded them so soundly and sent them to bed.
Then there is the rhyme which goes:
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her:
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.
In those rhymes people are forced to live in unreal pumpkins and shoes! One guide to nursery rhymes suggests, 'The stories and characters of nursery rhymes fascinate young children and help them to think imaginatively.’ Talk about the people and animals and share wonderings... Would you like to live in a shoe? I wonder what it's like? The guide goes on to state, ‘Nursery rhymes are a wonderful source of ideas for dressing up, storytelling and playing together’ {"Hickory Dickory Dock and Other Nursery Rhymes,” 1994, Auburn, Maine: Ladybird Books}.
However, I would go much further. I would venture to argue that perhaps those rhymes can encourage children to show empathy to the poor and the homeless. In this case you would ask them to imagine living in a tent, car park, cardboard house, car, or an abandoned house. Living in a pumpkin or shoe might seem strange but the homeless have lived in all kinds of odd places such as underground tunnels and passages.
I recently heard of a now famous Japanese Flamenco dancer who went to Spain to learn to become a true master of his art. He could not afford to rent a room so he dwelt in a cave where he would often practice how to dance!
And how does a person protect himself from the cold by living in a barn? Consider the nursery rhyme that goes:
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then?
Poor thing.
This rhyme might as well be about a homeless person and not just a robin. Having your pay cut for not working hard enough is hinted at by the innocuous rhyme 'See saw, Margery Daw.' It goes:
See saw, Margery Daw,
Johnny shall have a new master:
He shall have but a penny a day,
Because he can't work any faster.
Both nursery rhymes share a special affinity with the underdog. They reflect the absurdity of our frail and naked bare existence. It is hard for a anyone to understand why more people don't reach out and assist the homeless. A person who unexpectedly finds himself out on the streets at first faces the shock that 'this can't be real. It is all a dream!' The nursery rhyme 'Row, Row your boat' reminds us that 'Life is like a dream.' Well, at least at times!
So many nursery rhymes sing a song to the homeless.
Who knows? May be a person who was homeless invented some of those rhymes. Those nursery rhymes sure appear to render homage as well as acknowledge the plight of the underdog!