The fascination of nursery rhymes

Table Of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The origin of nursery rhymes

3. Characteristics of nursery rhymes

4. Different types of nursery rhymes

5. Nursery rhymes in the primary classroom

6. Research on the effect of nursery rhymes on reading and writing

7. Conclusion

Bibliography

1. Introduction

Nursery rhymes have a long tradition in Great Britain. Adults still remember the short verses their parents have told them when they were children. So these rhymes are part of the English culture.

In English lessons German pupils in primary school also have to learn about the English culture so that they get an impression of children’s life in a foreign country. Cultural awareness is part of the curriculum. Nursery Rhymes are important in English children’s life. So German children have to learn about it. Rhyme, rhythm and chunks are useful for language learning. The rhymes help the children to get to know the English sentence structure.

These arguments show that young people who want to become a primary teacher have to know about nursery rhymes. Where do they come from? What is so fascinating about them? Are they useful in the primary classroom? In this essay I would like to find out about it.

2. The origin of nursery rhymes

Nursery rhymes are oral literature children are confronted with. First – when they are still babies – their mothers sing lullabies to them. Here the tune is more important than the words (vgl. Opie, 2002, page 177).

“Lullabies come under the heading of nursery rhymes, that comprehensive collection of songs and verses which assist grown-ups in pacifying and entertaining children from birth to the age about 5.” (Opie, 2002, page 177).

In the eighteenth century nursery rhymes were known as Mother Goose Rhymes. In 1806 Ann and Jane Taylor promoted the Rhymes for the Nursery. James Kendrew of York wrote his edition Nursery Rhymes, for the Amusement of Children. The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book by Opie and Opie, edited in 1955, is also known as nursery rhyme corpus (vgl. Opie, 2002, page 177). Today the name nursery rhymes is used in England, the name Mother Goose songs is used in America (vgl. Opie and Opie, 1969, page 1).

The term nursery rhyme originated in the third decade of the 19th century. In Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine the term was used for the first time in July 1824. There an anonymous writer – perhaps John Wilson – published an essay “On Nursery Rhymes in General”. Other names for nursery rhymes have been songs, ditties, Tommy Thumb’s songs or Mother Goose’s songs (vgl. Opie and Opie, 1969, page 1).

Nursery rhymes offer some information about our social history. In the past it was quite usual that children became familiar with bawdy jokes or drinking songs. In the 17th and 18th century children were seen as ‘grown-ups in miniature’. On pictures they are dressed like adults.

“The conduct and the power of understanding we find expected of them were those of an adult. Many parents saw nothing unusual in their children hearing strong language or savouring strong drink. And behaviour was not as abashed as it is today.” (vgl. Opie and Opie, 1969, page 5).

Only very few nursery rhymes have been found recorded before the nineteenth century.

“References in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to verses now known in the nursery exist in some number. Almost cerntainly one in nine of the rhymes were known by the mid-seventeenth century. At least a quarter, and very likely over half the rhymes are more than 200 years old.” (Opie, 2002, page 179).

The majority of rhymes must be dated from the beginning of the 17th century onwards (vgl. Opie and Opie, 1969, page 6). Because of their anonymity and the difficulty of dating them precisely there are often strange interpresentations. “The game of fitting historical events to the rhymes has been especially popular in the present century.” (Opie, 2002, page 179). So called shadow personalities have been provided for most of the best known nursery rhyme characters (vgl. Opie, 2002, page 179).

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