| "Mary Had a Little Lamb" | |
|---|---|
 Illustration by William Wallace Denslow (1902) | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Songwriter(s) | Sarah Josepha Hale, John Roulstone |
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin, first published by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622.
The nursery rhyme was first published by the Boston publishing firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon, as a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was possibly inspired by an actual incident. [1] As described in one of Hale's biographies:
"Sarah began teaching young boys and girls in a small school not far from her home [in Newport, New Hampshire] ... It was at this small school that the incident involving 'Mary's Lamb' is reputed to have taken place. Sarah was surprised one morning to see one of her students, a girl named Mary, enter the classroom followed by her pet lamb. The visitor was far too distracting to be permitted to remain in the building and so Sarah 'turned him out.' The lamb stayed nearby till school was dismissed and then ran up to Mary looking for attention and protection. The other youngsters wanted to know why the lamb loved Mary so much and their teacher explained it was because Mary loved her pet. Then Sarah used the incident to get a moral across to the class:
Why does the lamb love Mary so? Mary so, Mary so?
Why does the lamb love Mary so? The eager children smiled,
Mary loves the lamb, you know, Lamb, you know, lamb, you know,
Mary loves the lamb, you know The teacher’s happy smile. [2]
In 1876, at the age of 70, Mary Tyler emerged to claim that she was the "Mary" from the poem. [3] [4] As a young girl, Mary kept a pet lamb that she took to school one day at the suggestion of her brother. A commotion naturally ensued. Mary recalled, "Visiting school that morning was a young man by the name of John Roulstone; a nephew of the Reverend Lemuel Capen, who was then settled in Sterling, Massachusetts. It was the custom then for students to prepare for college with ministers, and, for this purpose, Roulstone was studying with his uncle. The young man was very much pleased with the incident of the lamb, and, the next day, he rode across the fields on horseback, to the little old schoolhouse and handed me a slip of paper, which had written upon it the three original stanzas of the poem." [5] This account is not supported by evidence beyond Mary's memory. The "slip of paper" has never been produced as evidence. The earliest evidence of the poem's publication is Sarah Josepha Hale's 1830 collection of poems, supporting her complete authorship of the poem.
Even though this claim is unsupported by evidence, multiple sites in Sterling, Massachusetts, perpetuate the claim. A 2-foot (0.61 m) tall statue and historical marker representing Mary's Little Lamb stands in the town center. [6] The Redstone School, where Mary Sawyer attended school and purports the incident took place, was built in 1798. The property was later purchased by Henry Ford [7] and relocated [8] to a churchyard, on the property of Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Mary Sawyer's house, located in Sterling, Massachusetts, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, but was destroyed by arson on August 12, 2007. [9]
The text as originally published [10] consisted of three stanzas, each of eight lines, although the ABAB rhyme scheme (ABCB in the first four lines) allows each stanza to be divided into two four-line parts.
MARY’S LAMB.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow (or black as coal).
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
That was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.
And then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said ‘I’m not afraid,
You’ll keep me from all harm.’
‘What makes the lamb love Mary so?’
The eager children cry.
‘Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The teacher did reply.
‘And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’
In the 1830s, Lowell Mason set the nursery rhyme to a melody. [11] However, Mason's version is not the one commonly sung today. Today, it is commonly sung to the same tune as "Merrily We Roll Along" (the chorus of "Goodnight, Ladies") with repetition in the verses:
Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day,
School one day, school one day.
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?
Mary so, Mary so?
Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry.
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,
Lamb, you know, lamb, you know,
Mary loves the lamb, you know,"
The teacher did reply.
The rhyme was the first audio recorded by Thomas Edison on his newly invented phonograph in 1877. [12] It was the first instance of recorded English verse, [12] following the recording of the French folk song "Au clair de la lune" by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1860. In 1927, Edison reenacted the recording, which still survives. [13] The earliest recording (1878) was retrieved by 3D imaging equipment in 2012. [14]
Note: This melody is the British version, which is slightly different from the American version. The melody of the fourth bar in the British version consists of one note repeated three times, whereas in the American version, the fourth bar consists of one note, then a note repeated twice that is two steps higher than the previous note. [ citation needed ]
A number of parodies of the rhyme have entered folklore, such as this example:
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead.
Now Mary takes the lamb to school
Between two hunks of bread. [15]
Sesame Street also created a well known parody of the rhyme called ″Mary had a Bicycle″, which was sung by one of their scrapped characters, Don Music: [16]
Mary had a Bicycle,
It was painted Red as Fire.
And whenever Mary wanted to ride,
the Bicycle had a flat Tire.
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is an English lullaby. The lyrics are from an early-19th-century English poem written by Jane Taylor, "The Star". The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection of poems by Taylor and her sister Ann. It is now sung to the tune of the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", which was first published in 1761 and later arranged by several composers, including Mozart with Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman". The English lyrics have five stanzas, although only the first is widely known.
"Little Bo-Peep" or "Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6487.
Sarah Josepha Buell Hale was an American writer, activist, and editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War, Godey's Lady's Book. She was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as Thanksgiving, and for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument.
"Ladybird, Ladybird" is the first line of an English-language nursery rhyme that also has German analogues. It is included in the Roud Folk Song Index as number of 16215.
"Jack and Jill" is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies the commonest tune and its variations as number 10266, although it has been set to several others. The original rhyme dates back to the 18th century and different numbers of verses were later added, each with variations in the wording. Throughout the 19th century new versions of the story were written featuring different incidents. A number of theories continue to be advanced to explain the rhyme's historical origin.
"The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" is J. R. R. Tolkien's imagined original song behind the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle ", invented by back-formation. It was first published in Yorkshire Poetry magazine in 1923, and was reused in extended form in the 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings as a song sung by Frodo Baggins in the Prancing Pony inn. The extended version was republished in the 1962 collection The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
"Old Mother Hubbard" is an English-language nursery rhyme, first given an extended printing in 1805, although the exact origin of the rhyme is disputed. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19334. After a notable nursery success, it was eventually adapted to a large variety of practical and entertaining uses.
"Miss Susie", also known as "Hello Operator", "Miss Suzy", "Miss Lucy", and many other names, is the name of an American schoolyard rhyme in which each verse leads up to a rude word or profanity which is revealed in the next verse as part of an innocuous word or phrase. Originally used as a jump-rope rhyme, it is now more often sung alone or as part of a clapping game. Hand signs sometimes accompany the song, such as pulling on the bell in the first verse or making a phone gesture in the second.
"Roses Are Red" is the name of a love poem and children's rhyme with Roud Folk Song Index number 19798. It has become a cliché for Valentine's Day, and has spawned multiple humorous and parodic variants.
"The Lamb" is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789.
A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied in some cultures more than others, they appear to be universal in human society.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
"Little Orphant Annie" is an 1885 poem written by James Whitcomb Riley and published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company. First titled "The Elf Child", the name was changed by Riley to "Little Orphant Allie" at its third printing; however, a typesetting error during printing renamed the poem to its current form. Known as the "Hoosier poet", Riley wrote the rhymes in 19th-century Hoosier dialect. As one of his most well known poems, it served as the inspiration for the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, which itself inspired a Broadway musical, several films, and many radio and television programs.
The Sawyer Homestead was a historic house at 108 Maple Street in Sterling, Massachusetts. With an estimated construction date of 1756, the house was one of Sterling's oldest surviving structures, before it was destroyed by an arsonist in 2007. It was also notable as the birthplace of Mary Sawyer, who alleged she was the subject of the American children's nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The Sawyer family, whose descendants still own the property, have had a reproduction of the house built on its site.
Liberia; or, Mr. Peyton's Experiments is an 1853 novel by Sarah Josepha Hale, the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb", who wrote the novel under the name of Sara J. Hale.
"The Queen of Hearts" is an English poem and nursery rhyme based on the characters found on playing cards, by an anonymous author, originally published with three lesser-known stanzas, "The King of Spades", "The King of Clubs", and "The Diamond King", in the British publication The European Magazine, vol. 1, no. 4, in April 1782. However, Iona and Peter Opie have argued that there is evidence to suggest that these other stanzas were later additions to an older poem.
Two Souls in One is the debut album by American saxophonist George Braith recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.
"Laughing Song" is a poem published in 1789 by the English poet William Blake. This poem is one of nineteen in Blake's collection Songs of Innocence.
Mary Tyler was an American woman who is believed to have been the "Mary" on which the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was based, a claim she stated at the age of 70. The authorship of the nursery rhyme itself is also in doubt.
