5 h 20 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What survives in a childhood rhyme when the voices that first spoke it are gone?
In The Nursery Rhymes of England, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps presents verses that English children have learned for generations. Lullabies, counting games, riddles, charms and little stories in verse sit together here, arranged by purpose. Each kind reveals a different use for rhyme in childhood.
Jack and Jill climb their hill. Little Jack Horner pulls out his plum. A cat plays the fiddle while a cow leaps over the moon. Around these familiar scenes are less familiar verses, with notes on older versions, odd spellings and local differences. The collection invites you to notice what memory keeps—and what it nearly loses.
What you’ll discover
- Old friends, strange cousins Meet familiar childhood figures beside verses that have almost slipped out of memory.
- Rhythms to say aloud Feel the beat of pieces meant for speaking, rocking and clapping.
- More than bedtime verses Explore lullabies, riddles, counting games and charms, each with its own purpose.
- Clues in the notes Follow Halliwell's notes through older versions, unusual spellings and local forms of familiar rhymes.
- A glimpse of childhood Find tenderness in baby games and lullabies, and traces of what children are taught.
Who will love it
For parents, teachers, folklore lovers and anyone curious where Jack and Jill or Little Jack Horner came from. For readers who enjoy lullabies, counting games, riddles and the lore of childhood verses.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young scholar rescues spoken rhymes
- The rhymes are sorted into kinds
- Some rhymes may hide history
- Familiar names and strange cousins
- Sound, rhythm and how to read aloud
- What the collection shows about childhood
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Englische Kinderreime
by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps (Herausgeber)
Jack and Jill meet riddles, charms and lullabies in a collection that saves childhood verses from fading memory.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Nursery Rhymes of England is a collection of the rhymes that English children have learned at the knee for generations. It was put together by James Orchard Halliwell, a young antiquarian who later added Phillipps to his name.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A young scholar rescues spoken rhymes
James Orchard Halliwell was still in his early twenties when this book appeared. He was already known for his work on Shakespeare and on old English literature. He belonged to a Victorian circle of antiquarians who believed that ordinary speech, songs and sayings were worth saving as carefully as old manuscripts.
The rhymes he gathered had mostly been passed from nurse to child, never written down. A few had appeared in cheap chapbooks, in song collections or in the margins of old manuscripts. Halliwell searched all of these. He also asked friends and correspondents to send him the versions they remembered from their own childhoods.
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What is The Nursery Rhymes of England about?
It is a collection of traditional English nursery rhymes, including lullabies, riddles, games, charms and verse tales, gathered by J. O. Halliwell from oral tradition and old printed sources.
Who was Halliwell-Phillipps?
He was a nineteenth century English antiquarian and Shakespeare scholar who collected folklore and old popular literature. He was born James Orchard Halliwell and added the name Phillipps later in life.
Are the nursery rhymes really about kings and politics?
Some rhymes may touch real events, but most claims of hidden political meaning are doubtful. Later scholars found that many explanations appeared long after the rhymes themselves.
The author
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps
1820–1889 · English Shakespeare scholar and antiquarian
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820–1889) was a British Shakespeare scholar and antiquarian. He was born in London and later lived near Brighton, where he died. He collected English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. His publications included Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales (1849) and Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare (1881).
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