History Main / NurseryRhyme

* In DevonMonk's Literature/AllieBeckstrom novel ''Magic to the Bone'', Allie uses "Miss Mary Mack" as her mantra

Obviously, drawn upon for IronicNurseryTune. May also feature in a FracturedFairyTale.

* In DorothyLSayers's ''Theatre/TheEmperorConstantine'', Sayers used the legend that Helena was the daughter of King Coel -- the original "Old King Coel". She then used the rhyme in the opening act.

* In Creator/LewisCarroll's ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'', Alice meets up with Humpty Dumpty himself and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Resulting in her being quite GenreSavvy: she knows that the king has promised to send all his horses and men to help Humpty Dumpty, and she awaits the [[RavensAndCrows crow]] with great anticipation, to break up the fight.

* Mother Goose often features in {{pantomime}}, albeit as a real woman ([[CrossCastRole honest]]) who [[RuleofPersonificationConservation has had children and happens to own]] [[PantomimeAnimal a very large goose]] [[hottip:* : who'll probably lay a golden egg at some point during the performance]].

----
-->''Mary had a little lamb''
-->''She fed it castor oil''
-->''And everywhere the lamb did go''
-->''It fertilized the soil.''

Modern hearsay lore often attributes macabre and horrifying "origin stories" to nursery rhymes; the most widespread possibly being that "Ring Around the Rosy" is a song about [[TheBlackDeath the plague]]. These assertions are UrbanLegends. The origins of most nursery rhymes are simply not known, but it's quite obvious that most of them are nonsense rhymes that never made much sense.

* Creator/JRRTolkien wrote several "expanded" versions of nursery rhymes, filling in background to make them "reasonable". He attributed them to Bilbo and put one -- from "Hey diddle diddle" -- in Frodo's mouth in the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* In ''Literature/TheConditionsOfGreatDetectives'' one episode (called "Nursery Rhyme Murder" evolves around murders following the lyrics of a television station's old nursery rhyme, which told the story of how ten little children died one by one. The fact there's ten verses upsets Tenkaichi because he can't stop the murderer until the rhyme is finished (as it's one of the conditions) but if he lets ten people die his popularity will tumble.

* In DianaWynneJones's ''Deep Secret'', one of the Deep Secrets of the title is hidden in a nursery rhyme, and the hero has to interpret it in order to save the LoveInterest's life.

* AgathaChristie titled several novels after nursery rhymes. In ''A Pocket Full of Rye'', and more famously ''And Then There Were None'', victims are murdered in the manner of a nursery rhyme.

* In the DoctorWho serial ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Frontier in Space]]'', Jo prevents her hypnosis by reciting nursery rhymes.

* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', Fuchsia, [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3624 to the damned]].

* In LewisCarroll's ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'', Alice meets up with Humpty Dumpty himself and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Resulting in her being quite GenreSavvy: she knows that the king has promised to send all his horses and men to help Humpty Dumpthy, and she awaits the [[RavensAndCrows crow]] with great anticipation, to break up the fight.

* JRRTolkien wrote several "expanded" versions of nursery rhymes, filling in background to make them "reasonable". He attributed them to Bilbo and put one -- from "Hey diddle diddle" -- in Frodo's mouth in the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.

* Jack Spratt of Jasper Fforde's NurseryCrime books is himself a nursery rhyme figure and runs across several others. (Though his ambit includes {{Fairy Tale}}s as well.)

Nursery rhymes are a form of [[OralTradition oral folklore]]. They may be connected to ParlorGames. Counting-out rhymes are a subgroup.

* In DevonMonk's AllieBeckstrom novel ''Magic to the Bone'', Allie uses "Miss Mary Mack" as her mantra

** His rendition of "Hey, diddle diddle" is, in fact, a drinking song, and is set to music in [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations the musical]]:
--> ''Dish from off the dresser pranced,''
--> ''Found a spoon and gaily danced -''
--> ''Horses neighed and champed their bits''
--> ''For the bloodshot Moon had lost his wits!''
--> ''Well, cow jumped over, Dog barked wild,''
--> ''Moon lay prone and sweetly smiled.''
--> ''Ostler cried, ?Play faster, Cat!''
--> ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNF4B41l6hY Because we all want to dance like that!]]''

Modern hearsay lore often attributes macabre and horrifying "origin stories" to nursery rhymes; the most widespread possibly being that "Ring Around the Rosy" is a song about the plague. These assertions are UrbanLegends. The origins of most nursery rhymes are simply not known, but it's quite obvious that most of them are nonsense rhymes that never made much sense.

CommonKnowledge often attributes macabre and horrifying "origin stories" to nursery rhymes; the most widespread possibly being that "Ring Around the Rosy" is a song about the plague. These assertions are UrbanLegends. The origins of most nursery rhymes are simply not known, but it's quite obvious that most of them are nonsense rhymes that never made much sense.

Nevertheless, {{Public Domain Character}}s that may feature in all kinds of works. The writer may try to explain them -- often enough, with a Parody origin.

Obviously, drawn upon for IronicNurseryTune. May also feature in the FracturedFairyTale.

* Mrs. Wren in JohnCWright's ''Literature/{{Chronicles of Chaos}}'' makes use of rhymes as enchantments. Taffy ap Cyrmu, in the same work, takes his name from one: "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief."

* In DianaWynneJones's ''[[TheMagids Deep Secret]]'', one of the Deep Secrets of the title is hidden in a nursery rhyme, and the hero has to interpret it in order to save the LoveInterest's life.
* AgathaChristie titled several novels after nursery rhymes. In ''A Pocket Full of Rye'', and more famously ''{{And Then There Were None}}'', victims are murdered in the manner of a nursery rhyme.

* ''{{Thief}}: Deadly Shadows'' contains several nursery rhymes, all of them rather disturbing (and accurate foreshadowing).
* ''DeadSpace'' has the very very very creepy singing of ''Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'' in it.

* Mrs. Wren in JohnCWright's ''Chronicles of Chaos'' makes use of rhymes as enchantments. Taffy ap Cyrmu, in the same work, takes his name from one: "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief."

* In DianaWynneJones's ''Deep Secret'', one of the Deep Secrets of the title is hidden in a nursery rhyme, and the hero has to interpret it in order to save the LoveInterest's life.
* AgathaChristie titled several novels after nursery rhymes. In ''A Pocket Full of Rye'', and more famously ''And Then There Were None'', victims are murdered in the manner of a nursery rhyme.

* ''Thief: Deadly Shadows'' contains several nursery rhymes, all of them rather disturbing (and accurate foreshadowing).
* ''Dead Space'' has the very very very creepy singing of ''Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'' in it.

[[redirect:MotherGoose]]