Greetings--
>>It IS about the plague! Oriens.
Have you read Hiscock's arguments?
I bought the plague argument for years until reading what he had to say. To
summarize--the argument is simple. There is no recorded version of the
rhyme in written records before 1883. There *might* be one version which
can be dated back to the late 18th century, but if you look at it (I believe
it goes "Ring-a-ring-o'-rosies, pocket full of posies, all the girls in our
town Ring for little Josie") a plague interpretation is a real stretch.
Furthermore, there are a good ten or twenty other versions in circulation in
the late 19th century which display all kinds of variations.
I am just very, very reluctant to believe that a rhyme which is first
recorded in the late 19th century can date that far back without someone
noticing it. We have quite good records about the Great Plague of 1666, for
instance--yet no one has yet found a reference to this rhyme being in
circulation as a reference to the Plague.
To answer another question that's come up--when did this "origin" first
appear in print? Alt. folklore.urban folks have traced it back to 1961 at
the earliest so far (e-mailed to me by Judy Johnson):
"How about *The Plague and the Fire* by James Leason, 1961. I found it
at Frisby State Library. The only reference to 'rosie' is the
>following:
Ring a ring of rosy,
A pockey full of posies,
Atchoo, atchoo,
All fall down
Few people watching a group of children dancing hand-in-hand
in a circle to this well-known nursery rhyme may realize that
it had its origin in the plague. Rosy refers to the rosy rash
of plague, ringed to signify the tokens; the posies were herbs
and spices to sweeten the air; sneezing was a common sympton
of those close to death.
While Leason has many references and footnotes throughout his book,
there are none associated with this section. So, did Leason just make
it up? Is he the origin? "
Seriously--following the development of this legend is a hobby of mine. If
anyone heard the plague explanation before 1961, I'd love to hear it, along
with any serious scholarly proof (e.g. references in literature, song,
broadsheet, etc.) that could prove it IS about the plague.
Susan Carroll-Clark
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