Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Visual Interpretations

Mood or Mystery Or is he just resting?

The Export Wool Tax of 1712 Poor rabbit

Black Sheep Smiling? Chance encounter

Crying Boy Bold sheep

What's in the Sky? Conversation below

The Shopkeeper Wool is king

Textual/Historical Information

History Type of garments and materials produced at Saltaire, UK.

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/articles/electronic/wool.htm So much was wealth dependant on wool that the struggle to control it and to take the profits from it that historians have argued that it lead to profound changes in the country's constitution and the relationship between the crown and the people; and that another important effect was that it enabled a middle class to come into being.

 

Cultural and Political Influence

http://sleepdisorders.about.com/library/weekly/aa012602a.htm An interesting approach-consider also the current TV commercial with the sheep as part message.

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/fullmonty/35/ Note this connection from WW II.

Versions and Variants

Textual Versions and Variants - A complete listing of the versions and variants of this rhyme

Visual Versions and Variants - A comparative listing of all associated within Eclipse

Rhyme Specific Bibliography

Power, Eileen.The Wool Trade in English Medieval History. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1941.

Trapani, Iza. Baa Baa Black Sheep. Watertown, MA: Whispering Coyote/Charlesbridge, 2001.