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Ring-a-Ring o'Roses: The Origins and Meanings of Old Rhymes
This delightful book takes the reader on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of nursery rhymes. Offering a selection of more than 100 of our best-loved and widely known rhymes, it delves beneath the surface of the verses to interpret their meaning and reveal their historical origins.
The rhymes you'll find here are instantly recognizable and provide a comforting link to our past, however the stories behind them are often unknown and always fascinating - frequently telling the stories of true historical events from a time when the printing press was still a thing of the future and news was passed around verbally.
With rhymes on topics ranging from the weather to the stars, journeys to sums and food and drink to wise ways, each chapter presents the full and best-known version of the rhyme, followed by an explanation of its meaning and origins, along with the wider references the rhymes make to such topics as foods and culinary customs, historical events or archetypes of folk and fairy tales.
Whether you're a lover of nursery rhymes or more of a history buff, there is lots in this book for all to enjoy.
The rhymes you'll find here are instantly recognizable and provide a comforting link to our past, however the stories behind them are often unknown and always fascinating - frequently telling the stories of true historical events from a time when the printing press was still a thing of the future and news was passed around verbally.
With rhymes on topics ranging from the weather to the stars, journeys to sums and food and drink to wise ways, each chapter presents the full and best-known version of the rhyme, followed by an explanation of its meaning and origins, along with the wider references the rhymes make to such topics as foods and culinary customs, historical events or archetypes of folk and fairy tales.
Whether you're a lover of nursery rhymes or more of a history buff, there is lots in this book for all to enjoy.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2018
16 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 25, 2019
Interesting to read about the origins and meaning of nursery rhymes, but it seems it's the same answer for the majority of them.
September 2, 2020
Quite repetitive as almost all ryhmes have the same meaning according to the author. And not much depth about each rhyme really.
January 3, 2020
Not as informative as I would have expected it to be, much in this book is already common knowledge and the information is brief. Also, many of the rhymes are not quoted as the most commonly known versions, many wordings have been changed in the most popular of the rhymes.
This book does a lot however, for discrediting other books and other sources of information out there as I have discovered from reading the book; myths about the rhymes such as A-ring-a-roses being a plague time song for example has been debunked in this book because of another supposed paper which debunked the origins. In my opinion there are better books out there on this subject.
This book does a lot however, for discrediting other books and other sources of information out there as I have discovered from reading the book; myths about the rhymes such as A-ring-a-roses being a plague time song for example has been debunked in this book because of another supposed paper which debunked the origins. In my opinion there are better books out there on this subject.
June 6, 2020
It's a good source for readers who want to familiarize with English rhymes as cultural heritage. If, per se, you haven't heard them growing up. The "origins and meanings" part, however, is dissapointing, because Ferguson either can't or won't address this information. For most rhymes she gives a common answer - there is some speculation, but the meaning and origin is unknown. Yes, Ferguson, that is the beauty of folklore - it doesn't have a pin-point origin. That's what makes it open for interpretation. If, however, she's right about the lack of sub-text in all these rhymes, then I feel sorry to admit that the English people haven't been very imaginative throughout the centuries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2019
Quite comprehensive but not hugely enlightening.
September 16, 2020
Interesting but a bit repetitive.
May 17, 2020
Who doesn't love little toddlers rhyming out Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars? It reminds us of our happy time and gives a glimpse down the memory lane and into the amazingly weird yet dreamy world of nursery rhymes.
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Being a history buff the origins of the rhymes have always intrigued me and I always look for the stories behind them. The subject of the nursery rhymes not only range from weather to stars, food and drink but odd warnings of life laced with traditional folk and fairy tales. They have depicted astonishing historical events as well as contemporary practices.
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The settings and the trivias associated with most of the rhymes are archaic and the stories around them are beautiful. For example, in 1949, the Queen Mother Elizabeth was visiting a Royal Air Force Station and a little boy asked her about her where pussy cat was; the Queen apologized for not bringing it with her. The boy had learnt the famous poem just few days back:
Pussy cat, pussy cat
Where have you been?
I've been to London to look at the queen....
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And this compilation of origins and meanings of the old rhymes by Diana Ferguson is a treasure. She says "Poems have the poet's stamp of ownership on them; nursery rhymes belong to no one and everyone"
.
.
Being a history buff the origins of the rhymes have always intrigued me and I always look for the stories behind them. The subject of the nursery rhymes not only range from weather to stars, food and drink but odd warnings of life laced with traditional folk and fairy tales. They have depicted astonishing historical events as well as contemporary practices.
.
The settings and the trivias associated with most of the rhymes are archaic and the stories around them are beautiful. For example, in 1949, the Queen Mother Elizabeth was visiting a Royal Air Force Station and a little boy asked her about her where pussy cat was; the Queen apologized for not bringing it with her. The boy had learnt the famous poem just few days back:
Pussy cat, pussy cat
Where have you been?
I've been to London to look at the queen....
.
And this compilation of origins and meanings of the old rhymes by Diana Ferguson is a treasure. She says "Poems have the poet's stamp of ownership on them; nursery rhymes belong to no one and everyone"
.
April 25, 2024
Not bad. It's a pretty concise little book listing a few of the more famous nursery rhymes - some of which even I know. It's not very long, and while the origins are often unknown and the meanings obscure, we at least have a hefty dose of speculation, as well as some debunking of popular theories.
I found it particularly interesting to hear about how the origins for some nursery rhymes can be placed earlier than their first date of recording due nearly entirely to linguistic shifts that caused rhymes to break or meanings to change until the verses became odd or absurd.
In other words, it's not a scholarly book, but it's nice to flip through it.
I found it particularly interesting to hear about how the origins for some nursery rhymes can be placed earlier than their first date of recording due nearly entirely to linguistic shifts that caused rhymes to break or meanings to change until the verses became odd or absurd.
In other words, it's not a scholarly book, but it's nice to flip through it.
February 12, 2024
2024 - 1
It's an easy read with a lot of insight into culture and origins these rhymes were derived from. But a lot of them don't have any clear traceable history so it's mainly hearsay. My only issue is that it's quite skewed in terms of the region where most of the rhymes came from. It's focused on the British side of things, not that we know about other popular rhymes but I'm sure other countries have very interesting back stories to their rhymes which we unfortunately don't know about.
It's an easy read with a lot of insight into culture and origins these rhymes were derived from. But a lot of them don't have any clear traceable history so it's mainly hearsay. My only issue is that it's quite skewed in terms of the region where most of the rhymes came from. It's focused on the British side of things, not that we know about other popular rhymes but I'm sure other countries have very interesting back stories to their rhymes which we unfortunately don't know about.
February 8, 2022
A fun look at the history of nursery rhymes. It's amazing that these rhymes traveled orally across so many centuries; "Rain, rain, go away..." has roots in Ancient Greece? Sometimes I wish there was a bit more detail in the histories but maybe that's just the way when trying to catalog old oral traditions; there probably is not a lot to go on until it gets written down.
February 21, 2019
Not a bad little book, with a number of famous and well known rhymes along with what is known about their origins and history. Great for both teens and adults who want to know where all those fun little rhymes come from.
May 9, 2021
Some interesting little snippets, although mostly to do with where the rhymes were first published. Not so much about meanings, as a lot of them boiled down to just being too old for anyone to really know much about the origins and meanings of them, so interesting but not that insightful.
September 29, 2023
3.5 stars.
This was an interesting book however it was a tad repetitive and alot of the history of the rhymes were purely speculation and then dismissed.
I did enjoy learning some of the definite history and some of the theories.
This was an interesting book however it was a tad repetitive and alot of the history of the rhymes were purely speculation and then dismissed.
I did enjoy learning some of the definite history and some of the theories.
November 17, 2018
Very interesting 😀
September 16, 2019
Many of the rhymes that were in this book I had never heard of, I wonder if that is because of location. It was an interesting little read.
September 18, 2019
An interesting, if concise, look at the history, origins and variations of many popular (and long lasting) nursery rhymes.
January 13, 2023
Great for an easy quick read to find out about the origins of some of these rhymes. Lovely history lesson.
July 28, 2025
Loved the origins and explanations of all the nursery rhymes and more
November 25, 2022
It is a good collection of nursery rhymes. However, the "interpretations" and accounts of historical origins were quite often lacking, short and uninformative. It felt like the author didn't do her homework.
May 10, 2024
This was a sweet book but not particularly detailed. It was nice to see where some old nursery rhymes derived from some of which were surprising some were more obvious. There was some interesting information in here. Lots of things that I already know and was aware of. There were some new bits of info but it wasn’t really very definitive. A very quick and easy read. Read in a few hours. I wouldn’t rave about it or pass it on to someone else, but it could be a nice gift for a child.
June 17, 2019
Received as a present from a dear friend. Loved this little book very much. Fun reminiscing
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews