Nursery Rhymes

Ring o Rosies

Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down.

As far as I remember, from what i've heard I thought this was about the Black Plague, which is a really depressing thing to think about when you consider we sang this as kids and it's likely about plague and people dying because of the useless methods they used to try and keep themselves safe.

Of course this may not be the case, it may just be gibberish that has been interpreted as meaningful by overzealous scholars, but it's hard to ignore the similarities.

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

This is different, I've consistently thought that this is just about an egg falling off the wall, but looking at it it's likely a reference to a monarchy or a battle, the fact that all the king's horses and all the king's men are mentioned puts the idea across that Humpty was the king who fell (literally or figuratively) and was unable to reclaim his former position, being that he either died or his kingdom collapsed and could not return to its prior glory.

I'm really not sure why Humpty was shown as an egg, perhaps it was the best way to represent something difficult to put back together once smashed, and the nonsense of it appealed to children.
  
 Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Some claim this is about Mary, Queen of Scots and her aversion to religious reform, the simplified meaning is a lot like this, someone sitting comfortably in there position when a sudden change comes along and upsets the established order, causing a sudden reaction, this meaning has been adapted a lot into a whole range of stories though I doubt ms muffet was the source.



Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Jack and Jill is often regarded as another nonsense poem since it mentions going to the top of a hill to get water from a well. Likely it's a metaphor for futile search and inevitable collapse (and the resulting collapse of others that follows). It's been theorised that Jack and Jill represents Norse mythology, which is entirely possible, the rhyme seems to have been used as far back as the 16th century, in Elizabethan court and Shakespeare, which lends to the belief that the rhyme was quite well known at this point as it's being used in what could be considered olden "pop culture".

Oranges and Lemons

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

I'll admit i've never actually heard of this one, but apparently it's one of the most well known and refers to the sound of the bells of different churches in England. The nursery rhyme is said to have its roots in death and executions which is a strangely prominent topic for nursery rhymes, the longer oranges and lemons mentions:

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
Chop chop chop chop
The last man's dead!

Which is very creepy, there's not even a subtle notion towards execution rather a blatent example.