Why are alot of the old nursary rhyms so morbid ? such as) peter peter pumpkin eater, or) ring around the rosei. or) humpty dumpty, or) little miss muffit.. ( no happy endings here, killed is cheating wife, lepordsy, scrambled, arracnaphobic..?
by 
Norman_Outside the lines
ANSWERS: 4
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Partially because people back when most of those rhymes were written were very into the whole "Putting the Fear of God" into their children, they wanted their kids to have what they saw as the proper respect for their elders, for "God", and stick close to their own most firmly indoctrinated "Virtues" of hard work, strong Christian morals, and general living in servitude and fear. Also, artists then, just like they always have, made the most out of what they had to work with. When people had the black plague, archaic christian values, and extremely morbid living conditions to work with, they made up things using what material they had. People will always create rhymes and stories and painting and art in general, and what that art turns out like can be a very good representation of what kind of life they lived. Although why so many of these sick and morbid old rhymes have been held onto and remembered like they have is any one's guess.
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Because most of the time they were metaphors for real life past events.
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As always art represents life... even nursery rhymes, because they're really just poetry for kids.
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It helps make light of horrible things. I mean how many kids that you know understand that ring-around-the-rosie is about the Plague that hi London, or that little miss muffet is about a serious phobia that people face? It's just a fun little rhyme to them. They don't understand what they're really saying. In fact, there are probably a lot of adults who don't know that either.
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