M is for Mother Goose

M is for Mother Goose. Mother Goose is known for her nursery rhymes.

  

Who is Mother Goose?

In the United States, some call her by the name Elizabeth Foster Goose or Mary Goose, but in reality she is not actually a real person despite the rumours.

Charles Perrault in 1697, was the first to publish a collection of Mother Goose rhymes or tales (Contes de ma mère L'Oye ) contributing to the spread of the fairy tale genre perhaps even starting it depending on who you ask. The Grimm brothers were responsible for taking fairy tales and making them appropriate for children.

Why are nursery rhymes so popular?

There are some nursery rhymes that have underlying message.  For example “Ring around the rosie, pocketful of posie” is actually about the black plague.  Before we had books and widespread literacy, stories were passed down orally. What better way to remember a lesson then to sing it, make it rhyme, and use the same words over and over again. 

Nursery rhymes are also used in the classroom as a literacy tool as they are a fun way to learn. According to the host over at K-3 Teacher Resources nursery rhymes, “significantly enhances early reading skills and phonemic awareness (the ability to hear the sounds and distinguish between them in the English language).”

 Challenge

--Create your own nursery rhyme. Or

--Write a fractured nursery rhyme.  Children’s poet Kenn Nesbitt, over at Poetry 4 Kids has a neat exercise on how to write a fractured nursery rhyme.  Instead of me re-wording his lesson. Click here to find out more.

Resources

--Nursery Rhymes.com

--Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

If you liked this post please let others know. Tomorrow, I’ll be posting all the poems I wrote this week and offer a couple of tips for revising your poems. On Monday, I’ll be discussing nature poetry. I hope you come back for that.  In other news my debut guest post, "How Writing Poetry Can Help You Be a Better Writer" is now available for reading over at The Graceful Doe's Blog. 

Now for a laugh!

I’m a little puggie, short and stout.

Here is my bum. 

Here is my snout.

When I get all wound up, hear me pout.

Just open the door and let me out!

To see/hear an original version of I’m a Little Teapot click here.