Poetry from young...

Poetry, you might think, has only been exposed to us after we have learnt to read and write.

However, you are wrong. Many of us would have been exposed to nursery rhymes during our toddler years. A famous collection would be the 'Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes', in which many short poems entertain children even up till today, such as 'Humpty Dumpty' and 'Rock-a-bye Baby', which may even been exposed to us since birth!

However, many do not know the story and the origins behind these poems...

Did you know, that 'Humpty Dumpty' was believed to be the name of a cannon which was used during the English Civil War(1642~1649)? It all happened in the town of Colchester, which was protected by the town's wall. Next to the wall was a church by the name of St. Mary's. The cannon(Humpty Dumpty) was placed on the wall next to St Mary's Church - 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall'. The wall was subsequently destroyed and 'Humpty Dumpty had a great fall'. 'All the king's horses and all the king's men' attempted to put the cannon on another part of the wall, but 'couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again'!

'Rock-a-bye Baby' was used to described the scene of the Indians who rocked their babies in wooden cradles which were suspended on trees. However, some of these cradles would fall when the wind comes. This poem is thought to be the first poem written on American soil.