Study Guide for Nursery Rhymes

• Oral tradition
• No finite set
• Age unknown
• Peter and Iona Opie recorded rhymers over 200 years old
• Grow and change over time
• Mother Goose-uniquely English; came out of Britain
  
• 1744- 1st known collection of nursery rhymes; entitled Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book
  
• John Newberry attached Mother Goose
• 1765 he published Mother Goose's Melody
• took Mother Goose idea from Perault
  
• 1st poetry most children learn
• talk about everyday life issues
• have historical connections
• focuses on things senses can grasp
• children prefer humor or tell a story
• prefer strong rhythms and strong rhyme