Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes are small traditional poems with rhymes, making it easy for children to memorize and sing along to them. Sometimes known as lullabies, these songs are used to put children to sleep, relay a moral, or a message that shows how to behave, and teach basic skills, such as counting.
Children of all countries and backgrounds grow up listening to some form of nursery rhymes, which they, in turn, will repeat to their children. Before the 18th century most of these stories were not published, so they were passed down form generation to generation.
One of the most famous collections of nursery rhymes in both the United States and Great Britain is known as Mother Goose Rhymes.
Mother Goose herself is character and appears in some of the stories. She is an elderly woman who wears a shawl over her shoulders and sometimes a bonnet, and is supposed to convey that her life experience and inherent kindliness make her ideal to teach children lessons.
A funny thing is that a modern day reading of some of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes can induce fear, anguish and grief in contemporary adults, some of whom try to “clean up” these rhymes believing they are too strong for children.
Some of the most popular rhymes are Three Blind Mice, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill and Little Boy Blue, London Bridge is Falling Down and Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Read the rhymes below out loud or sing along if you know the tune. The rhymes will help you improve pronunciation and memorize unfamiliar words, which you should look up in a dictionary.
First the harmless Mary Had a Little Lamb (inspired by true facts) which goes as follows:
Mary had a little lamb,
whose fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
the lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day
which was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play,
to see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out,
but still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
till Mary did appear.
“Why does the lamb love Mary so?”
the eager children cry.
“Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know.”
the teacher did reply.
Next, the frightening London Bridge:
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady
And finally the very scary:
Hush-a-by baby
On the tree top,
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
And down will fall baby
Cradle and all.
Because these rhymes and songs have been putting children to sleep for many centuries, we may have to conclude that children aren’t as afraid as their parents when they sing these songs.