The gory stories of our beloved, bloody nursery rhymes

‘Nursery rhymes’ are 200 years old. But what the Hickory Dickory Dock are they all about, and why are many so unpleasant?

Humpty Dumpty: had a great fall, attempts to reasemble him ultimately proved unsuccessful

Last year, a survey by the IB4UD blog included “Mary had a Little Lamb” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” among Ireland’s Top 3 nursery rhymes. But it was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” — “mecca of all Irish nursery rhymes” — that achieved the top spot.

These days, nursery rhymes can be found in countries all over the world — from Bolivia to India, Kenya to the USA. But until a couple of hundred years ago, such songs, passed down by word of mouth since at least the 14th century, were known simply as ‘rhymes’, ‘lullabies’ or ‘ditties’ — and they were not written especially for children.