Last weekend I was searching for something in a pile of past papers. Amongst them were the notes I made during a class of Philosophy. It was quite entertaining and I thought to myself: "Why not share with others what I'd been informed in class." So it's time to update the journal.
It is interesting how we are completely blocked away from bad influences', right from the time we are in Kindergarten until High school. Educational institutions focus on the syllabus being taught at school; they regulate activities taking place within the school premises and in general, provide and ideal environment for shaping the child's behavior and personality. But is it really so?
Nursery rhymes, the very first influence on children, have strong political undertones in most cases – a fact not many are aware of. Nursery rhymes of today are the political gossip of the yesteryears. People played with words and formulated a playful way of spreading a political message. The feature of these songs were that they usually had a catchy tune and employed the use of a rhyming scheme which made it easier for people to learn and sing.
The most common sight at a playschool is children forming circles and singing
“Ring a ring o’ roses”, which seems to be a harmless child poem when in fact it is not. The poem reads:
“Ring around the rosy
A pocket full of posies
Ashes, Ashes”
We all fall down!
The poem talks about the Bubonic Plague which began in the early 1300s in China, which spread to London and resulted in the death of nearly 1/4th of England’s population. The plague, which initially affected rodents, passed on to people through fleas. The contagious disease spread to other parts of the world through traders who went to China. In Europe, the disease was called
‘The Black Death’ as black patches on the body were symptoms that led to death eventually, The ‘ring od roses’ in the poem referred to red eruptions with white centers, which spread on the entire body. The "Ashes Ashes" in the poem was referred to the bout of sneezes that followed the disease People believed that having a certain flower called ‘ posy’ would prevent one from being afflicted with the disease, hence the line “ pocket full of posies”. The last line, “we all fall down!” is a clear indication to the swift wipe-out of 1/4th of England’s population.
The next most loved poem is undeniably
“Jack and Jill”, which has it’s origins in France. The poem reads:
Jack and Jill went up the hill, to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after!
Some historians believe that the poem refers to the execution of
Louis XVI and his wife
Marie Antoinette in 1783. The phrase “let them eat cake” has been attributed to Marie Antoinette, though some disagree saying that French philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau had first mentioned it in his autobiographical book
Confessions. The story goes back in time she was Queen and was being informed about the conditions of peasants who had no bread to eat. She replied: "Let them eat cake". Apparent as it sounds, people were not happy with the royal family and were determined to overthrow the Monarchy. Hence, seeds for the French Revolution were sown with continued attempts of fleeing by the King failed. "Jack" and "Jill" are supposed reffrences to the King and Queen respectively. The falling down of Jack refers to his loss of power which led to the fall of the Monarchy, translated into "broke his crown". Jill (the Queen) did not have a choice but to accept the fate of her husband. They were eventually executed.
If Jack and Jill was surprising.
Humpty Dumpty goes a level further. Often we come across people who are nicknames 'Humpty Dumpty' if they are overweight but in reality, Humpty Dumpty was not human! The poem reads:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!
It was in fact a cannon that was used during the English Civil War. The siege of Colchester involved the Royalists and Parliamentarians where the former had already been attacked by the latter. The town of Colchester was protected by a city wall that contained a castle and a number of churches. this boundary wall was used by the Royalists to station their cannon (Humpty Dumpty). Following this, Humpty Dumpty was thrashed to the ground due to the attack by the opposition Parliamentatrian cannon- referred in the poem as "great fall" that Humpty Dumpty had. efforts by the Royalists (King's men) to put Humpty Dumpty back in position were futile and after eleven weeks, the Parliamentarians took over Colchester.
In almost every sphere of life, we experience politics. Indeed, the very first traces of interaction between two people gives rise to politics. Aristotle once said: "man is a social animal"- which can also be translated into man being a political animal. No matter how hard we try to control children's exposure to certain forms of literature or ideas, human society, as it is today, is vulnerable to all kinds of corruption. how far do we run from hidden messages and most likely, these are a drop in the ocean compared to the actual number of hidden messages that poets, cartoonists, animators and others trap in their works. Sometimes ignorance is anything but bliss.
Have you got any interesting stories to share about some other nursery rhymes? Come on tell us.
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