Who Killed Cock Robin?
(AKA The Dead and Burial of Cock Robin)
More Questions Than Answers - Stark Beauty in a Death Ritual
This is an 1867 set
of oil illustrations available in the digital collection. The fascinating
element is that they are large full page illustrations rather than a set
of small images on one page. The beauty and depth of the colors is obvious,
and the positioning of each element in the illustration is carefully structured.
There is a component of pathos, even as one might question how real it
all was. The use of a handkerchief carefully and quite critically disposed
is theatrical at best, but it captures the eye.
Note the arch in the back of poor robin as the blood spreads ( a hint
to the name) and the arranged concern of the murderer, the little sparrow.
Consider the careful and caring position of the flowers as we gaze upon
the coffin and the covering carefully sewn.
Which items in the rhyme were required and which customary for Christian
burial at the time the rhyme was first composed? Did the song change over
time as funeral customs changed? Did the Reformation influence the rhyme?
Consultation of various editions of Books of Common Prayer used by the
Church of England was fruitless, though it appears someone in holy orders
was needed to conduct the service, and then a clerk would have recorded
it in the parish register. A shroud was customary. A grave would have
to have been dug (unless the body was tipped in a ditch--hardly part of
a well ordered rite).
Could the funeral have taken place at night? Real larks don't sing in
the dark; this Lark won't be the clerk at night when it is dark. The Linnet
fetches a link--to light the way or the register or both for the Lark?
The Kite who bears the coffin says he won't do it through the night--this
could mean for the duration of the night. If the funeral does take place
at night, what does this suggest?
It might suggest a hugger-mugger affair, perhaps an effort to hush the
whole thing up. And that leads to the thought, could the rhyme be connected
to the death of William Rufus (William the Red-Headed could be equated
with a red-breasted robin) shot by an unknown person in the New Forrest?
|
