Young Writers Society

Right, Is it just me...or are nursery rhymes all a bit violent? Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Hushaby baby, Little bunny foo foo.....It's curazy. Can you think of any other violent, or scary songs/rhymes meant for children??

Ps, do you like my new avatar?!

How is Humpty Dumpty violent? I though it was about a cannon that broke in the English Civil War in Bristol.

And I though Jack and Jill was just dirty rather than violent.

Humpty dumpty fell off a wall and died. He got all smooshed, and the horses and men tried their best, but the horses probably just made it worse.

Jack smashed his skull up, and Jill went rolling down the hill. Smooshed!!!

You'd be surprized how much sex and violence there is in older stories and songs that today are generally meant for very sheltered children. I mean, Rapunzel's lover gets blinded, and the way Mother Gothel finds out is Rapunzel asking why her dress is getting a tight around her belly, not why Gothel is so much heavier than the prince. In older versions of Cinderella, the step-sisters chop off bits of their feet to fit into the slipper, a disturbing remnant of foot-binding in China. Sleeping Beauty was not awakened by a chaste kiss in the older Italian version, but rather after giving birth to, and suckling twins that the prince impregnated her with while in her enchanted sleep.

Remember there was a time when kids weren't sheltered from this stuff, twleve-year-olds were old enough to go into battle, and fairy tales were not meanth just for children. Heck, the version of Cinderella we're most familar with was written for French aristochracy.

Humpty dumpty fell off a wall and died. He got all smooshed, and the horses and men tried their best but the horses probably just made it worse.

Jack smashed his skull up, and Jill went rolling down the hill. Smooshed.

Yeh, but they're not actually about violence. HUmpty Dumpty was just a cannon, as already stated.

I was told Jack and Jill was about sex. (Edit: it is about beheading)

But ooh...I guess they're still inappropiate for chldren.

How are children supposed to know that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon? He was always a giant egg who got smooshed. Oh, and he wore trousers and a hat... I used to think Jack broke his hat, when i was little..I didn't realise crown meant cranium..

I think Jack and Jill is about King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, who were beheaded. Isn't it?

Yeh, but have you ever met a child that is disturbed by Humpty Dumpty or Jack and Jill?

No...but what if is has some subconscious effect and children start pushing people off walls....y'never know. Oh and Three blind mice is pretty bad too.

"Who cut off their tails with a carving knife" Oo-er.

Reading about violence doesn't make people violent. You should meet my grandmothers. They are the kindest, sweetest, most gentle woman in the world, and she's been into grusome murder mysteries ever since she could read them. They also read all those violent fairy tales and nursery rhymes as small children.

I love a goodly amount of violence in my books, but I'm a pacifist. My grandmothers and I may be exceptional in many ways, but we are not in how reading about violence effects people.

Besides, in Humpty Dumpty, they aren't able to put him back together again. As long as you teach kids to be compassionate, I would think that it is a lesson against violence. But in reality, it's about carelessness, because nobody pushed him. He just fell.

Ring around the rosie
a pocketful of posies,
ashes, ashes
WE ALL FALL DOWN!

Bubonic plague in summary...exactly my point.

(and Reichieru- I agree with you wholly. Example- according to records, Mary would have been 12!!!!!!!!!!!! when/if pregnant with Christ)

Mooz-what's little bunny foo foo? And cool avatar, btw

You know the "ring around the rosy" one? It was originally sung about the plague. "A-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down?" Great.

Well I suppose the older the get the more you get into it.

Atshioo? I thought it was Ashes...

Nursery rhymes make lies of everything but don't let the children know that... they'll become very scared.... I think they put violence in there because they want to children to think violence is humouros (which it is SOMETIMES)...

Yep, and Juliet was thirteen when she married Romeo. Also, if you'll recall, there is a scene in that play where Juliet's mother points out that there are many girls her age who are already mothers.

How does Little Rabbit Foo Foo go again?

The Black Rose wrote:Well I suppose the older the get the more you get into it.

Atshioo? I thought it was Ashes...

Nah, "atishoo" as in sneezing...it's very sadistic.