What Mother Goose Meant

Nearly every English or American child is familiar with nursery rhymes, and many of the rhymes still retain something close to their original words and forms. Children learn nursery rhymes from their grandparents, parents, and other adults. They sing and dance to modern renditions on children's television and in daycares and preschools. Nursery rhymes persist into elementary school, and become part of a child's psyche. The authors and origin stories of individual nursery rhymes are usually lost to the ages. To fill that void, most nursery rhymes that existed before the middle of the 20th Century, more or less, have been collectively attributed to "Mother Goose." This book, the first in a series, looks at the deeper layers of a number of popular nursery rhymes to see what Mother Goose might have meant. It looks at social and historical contexts, and deconstructs some of the symbolism. It speculates, based on outside sources, and finds something reasonably intelligent to say. This is not the final say on anything; these interpretation may be just one of many, and not all may agree. That is fine. Nursery rhymes have many versions, and not all have the same words, or even the same number of stanzas. The selected versions in this book are generally the most familiar, comfortable form from the author's own experience, with sometimes an unfamiliar stanza or two. This book contains nursery rhymes that are in the public domain, but it is not intended for children. The discussions contin concepts and imagery that may be unsettling or disturbing. There are references to sex, death, war, prostitution, religious conflicts, and other mature topics. This is the first of a series. The author hopes to have at least eight books in the series before it is done.