More politics and nursery rhymes
By susieq223
@susieq223 (3742)
United States
May 27, 2007 1:24pm CST
Since there was interest in the first discussion, I thought I would post another one. Remember the rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men. He marched them up a hill, then he marched them down again." That one refers to James, the brother of King Charles II. The title Duke of York was given only to royal family members.
After their father, Charles I, was beheaded by Cromwell, Charles and James fought to get the throne back. After Cromwll died, Charles came to the throne as Charles II and James as Duke of York. He led the king's armies, but lost a battle to the Dutch, hence his "marching up the hill" didn't accomplish anything.
3 responses
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
29 May 07
Hehehe...I found one for you...the classic Humpty Dumpty
Humpty dumpty sate on a wall,
Humpti dumpti had a great fall;
Threescore mene and threescore more,
Cannot place Humpty dumpty as he was before.
(An egg)
-1810
the original Humpty was King Richard III
found this here at this site
http://www.english.uwaterloo.ca/courses/engl208c/esharris.htm
When you first mentioned about nursery rhymes as being sort of political satires or comments...Humpty Dumpty came to my mind right away
1 person likes this
@susieq223 (3742)
• United States
29 May 07
Yes, they used Humpty Dumpty because Richard purportedly had a hump. I had forgotten about that one. Thanks for the link!
@wenkinnoc (482)
•
27 May 07
All of the nursery rhymes have some political or historical backdrop to them they seem inocent enough but they bely a diferent and more sinister meaning
1 person likes this
@susieq223 (3742)
• United States
27 May 07
That is true. I didn't know that for a long time. Now I find it interesting to track some of these back and find out more about them.
