Hidden meaning of

Nursery Rhymes

Ученицы 10 класса “ А”

ГБОУ СОШ № 98 Калининского района города Санкт-Петербург

Обертас Полина Олеговна

Крупнова Елизавета Константиновна

Руководитель: Казырбаева Наталья Юрьевна.

“A nursery rhyme shapes your bones and nerves, and it shapes your mind. They are powerful, nursery rhymes, and immensely old, and not toys, even though they are for children." "But they make no sense!" Summer protested "Ah, well," said Ben. "Sometimes sense hides behind walls. You must find a window and stick your head right in before you can see it.” ― Katherine Catmull

Our aims :to explore nursery rhymes for their language, structure and meaningto explore historical background of some nursery rhymesto identify hidden meaning of some nursery rhymes

Our objectives :•To compile a collection of nursery rhymes•To study the collection and put the rhymes into categories•To find out the value of nursery rhymes•To explore the literary devices used in rhymes•To discover their origins and meanings and their connection with British history

Aims and Objectives

Common FeaturesShort rhyming storyOften set to musicUsually designed for childrenTraditional and very popularOften contain some archaic languageOften translated into lots of languages

Fishing for poems

Internet Research: about 100 Nursery Rhymes.Our observations:• Strange Characters : Humpty Dumpty, blind mice,

a crooked man, Itsy Bitsy spider, lords and dukes • Weird events : baking birds in a pie, a bridge

falling, a lady swallowing a spider, а ship sinking• Their age

Literary devices

• Rhyme (Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!)

• Personification(: a fly marries a humble-bee in “Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee, …”, birds help to build a kirk in “When I was a little girl”)

• Alliteration(“Three grey geese in a green field grazing,Grey were the geese and green was the grazing” )

Categories of Rhymes

↙ ↓ ↓ ↘

Moral Language Fun With Historical message development background

Educational Value

There was an Owl lived in an oak.Whiskey, whaskey, weedle!And all the words he ever spoke, Were fiddle, faddle, feedle!

Language Development

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.Up got Jack, and home did trot As fast as he could caperHe went to bed and bound his headWith vinegar and brown paper.

For funRound and round the

garden Little Teddy bear One step Two steps Tickle you under there!

Historical events

• Baa, Baa black sheep(a tax on all exports of wool in every part in the country.)

• Jack and Jill(events of the French revolution)• Three blind mice (refers to Queen Mary I of

England blinding and executing three Protestant bishops)

• Doctor Foster(a story of Edward I of England)

Humpty DumptyHumpty 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.

Ring a ring o’ rosiesRing-a-ring o' roses,

A pocket full of posies,A-tishoo! A-tishoo!We all fall down.

Ring-a-round the rosie,A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down.

Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush! We've all tumbled down.

Remember,remember the 5th of

NovemberRemember,remember the 5th of November

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reasonWhy the Gunpowder TreasonShould ever be forgot.

Sing a song of a sixpence Sing a song of sixpence

A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked into a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to singWas that not a tasty dish To set before a king?

The King was in his counting houseCounting out his money The Queen was in the parlor Eating bread and honeyThe Maid was in the garden Hanging out the clothes When down came a blackbird And snapped off her nose!

Interpretations of Sing a Song

of SixpenceBlackbirds – piratesThe King – the captainThe Queen – the pirate shipThe Maid – the victim ship

Rhymes is a kind of

Inspiration.• extremely popular.• used by generations of

people.• translated into lots of

languages.• inspired artists to draw

illustrations

Other areas1.Remember,remember the 5th of November.- “V-for Vendetta”(2006)-The English television series “Sherlock”(Season 3,episode 1)

2.Sing a song of a Sixpence.-John Lennon’s “Cry Baby Cry”and Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird”.-Lord Byron parodied the Nursery Rhyme in the dedication of the Narrative poem Don Juan.- “The Pirates of Carribean” (3d part)

Conclusions• Nursery rhymes have a great educational value for children as

they teach them early language skills, develop their imagination and convey some moral messages.

• Nursery rhymes are an important part of British literature using poetic devices and colourful language

• Many nursery rhymes have historical background and reading about these events can be a good way of learning history.

• It is possible to make fascinating discoveries by decoding hidden messages of some nursery rhymes.

• Exploring nursery rhymes can help you better understand British culture today.

Our future plans:

• Draw parallels between nursery rhymes in British and Russian culture

• Analyse their similarities and differences • Analyse literary devices used in nursery

rhymes