Ring-a-Ring o' Roses

Visual Interpretations

Country Gentility Children at play

The Babysitter? Carefree children

Cherubic Children Dancing on the Green

Legacy of the Plague? Perhaps not

On Top of the World Dancing for Joy

Wild Rabbits Dancing in Mid-Air

Textual/Historical Information

Commentary on the history of the rhyme

An example of an false legend grown over time in the Urban Legends reference site. http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm

For some explanation of the Plaque or Black Death: http://www.byu.edu/ipt/projects/middleages/LifeTimes/Plague.html

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

Bowman, Marion.   "Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses." Talking Folklore.   August 1989   (pp. 1-14).

Gomme, Alice Bertha.   The Traditional Games of England , Scotland , and Ireland. 2 Volumes. [1894, 1898] New York: Dover Publications, 1964.  

Leasor, James.   The Plague and the Fire. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.

Newell, William Wells.   Games and Songs of American Children. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883.

Slack, Paul.   The Impact of the Plague in Tudor and Stuart England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1990.