How do we really know humpty dumpty was an egg?

Well I guess that whoever first came up with an illustration of the nursery rhyme, drew a picture of an egg and it just stuck for generations. I find it interesting to read in the first posts about nursery rhymes and anti British sentiment. I have heard of these rhymes being originally written to cheer up children through very dark times, like the plague and wars and such.

There was a drawing of an egg at the same page the first time I read the rhyme, so I've always assumed it was an egg. I'm not sure what else would break when it fell of the wall, maybe he was made of glass? Or china? Or pure gold?

Actually, you're right. I heard years ago that the nursery rhymes were originally anti British rule statements made during pre-revolutionary times when the colonists were preparing to revolt against Great Britain. Humpty Dumpty actually stood for the British rule. If you look at many of the nursery rhymes you can see the anti-British sentiment. I am not saying that this is true, it is one of those things that I was taught in my American Lit class in college.

didn't you look at the pictures? It may have been an artist's idea, but it worked for me. What else can you break and then try to put back together and not be able too?

it would be a very silly name for someone who was not an egg. i think we have to assume he was an egg. the usual story is humpty dumpty was a cannon but it is a rigiculous name for a cannon i think

When I was at school (in Britain)we were taught that Humpty Dumpty was the name of a cannon bought by the Royalists from Holland to use in the English Civil War. It was brand new and mounted on the wall of a castle to fire at the Roundheads. On its first firing it exploded and shattered into tiny pieces. "All the king's horses and all the king's men" were supporters of King Charles I and they couldn't put Humpty together again! When it exploded, do you think the king's men were scrambled to come and put it back together? Sorry, that was a pathetic yolk. Thanks, dloveli, this was an eggsiting post and some of the answers have been eggstraordinary.

The rest of that article had some people who pointed out that Lewis Carroll had Alice in Wonderland say he looked like an egg, but that the term Humpty Dumpty usually referred to someone short and clumsy.

I never understood nursery rhymes, and never took them too seriously. Eggs falling off of walls, babies falling out of trees, children falling down hills.... surely there must be something happier we could share with our children than nursery rhymes.

You have a good point here. The nursery rhyme never does really tell who or what humpty dumty is. I do remember this nursery rhyme very well. Although it has never crossed my mind until reading this post about humpty dumpty not being a egg. I guess because in the nursery rhyme book I had when I was a little girl it had a broke egg cartoon by this rhyme I always took humpty dumpty as a broken egg.

fab post,well i would have to say i only know it's an egg because of the pictures that were in my nursery rhyme book

From what I remember from when I was doing some research on the nursery rhymes is that many of them were not even originally written for children. Humpty Dumpty stood for something, but it wasn't an egg that sat on a wall and fell. Then there is Ring around the Rosie, it is about the black plague. Honestly, most of these are illustrated in the way that they are because it is the only way to make them appropriate for children although they will always appeal to children because of the cadence of them.

Hi dloveli..If you go to the website below, you'll find all kinds of interpretations of who Humpty Dumpty really was. None of them refer to him being an egg. Some of them are quite interesting and a lot of them make sense.Take a look when you get a chance.. http://www.rooneydesign.com/humptydumpty.htm

Actually humpty dumpty was a riddle.

Good question. Even better one: who tries to get the king's horses to do a surgical operation? (and all the king's men, too) Hey, I've got an idea; call a doctor! Maybe he was an egg, maybe not. Who names an egg anyway? And didn't he also wear clothes? Yeah, I just love to dress up my breakfast before I cook it. (weird). Nursery rhymes are just plain creepy: rub a rub dub, 3 men in a tub? Call social services! Rock a bye baby in the tree top? Get that baby out of the tree and call social services. Hansel and Gretel? Yeah, that's a suitable story for children: a witch that tries to eat them! When you think about it, it's like we're trying to give our kids some kind of mental distress with all of the B.S. we tell them right before they go to sleep. Who writes these stories? I'd bet some sadistic sociopath does! I say we should all start making up some decent stories to tell our kids for bedtime!

Well, the book I had had a piture of humpty and it or he was an egg!

Well, if Humpty Dumpty was an egg, I can't see how it was possible to put him back together again - all the yolk would have run out and that would have been a problem pouring it back in.. Poor guy! And what about the Old woman with all those children living in a shoe!? Not very practically, particularly in bad or rainy weather! I must have been a awkward little kid because I just couldn't believe all this stuff and used to question it constantly! _Derek

dloveli, Found a wikipedia article about the nursery rhyme and it said "humpty dumpty" was used back I think in the fifties to describe a person who was clumsy. It was also attributed to another poem that was poking fun at something to do with the civil war... I skimmed. History can bore me, not all, but well here's the link so you can see for yourself what I was talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty NOT A REFERRAL LINK!

It originally started as a riddle for which there are always answers and for this riddle the answer was 'egg'. This riddle was later added as a nursery rhyme.