Week 12 Essay

This week for my essay topic I decided to focus on the different styles of poems and rhyming. I remember learning them in elementary school but have since forgotten them. The English Nursery Rhymes unit utilizes many of the different rhyming patterns, so I thought the essay this week would be a great opportunity to review them. 

One of the patterns is the ABAB pattern. This is where the first and third line rhyme and the second and fourth line rhyme. This is often called the alternating or interlocking rhyme scheme. An example of this rhyme scheme from the English Nursey Rhymes unit is the nursery rhyme Simple Simon. It reads:

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
"Show me first your penny."
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
"Indeed I have not any."

Another scheme is the AAXA pattern. This style has all lines rhyme but the third. This seems to me like it would be a bit harder of the patterns to write because you have to time the out of place word to fall into the third line of the rhyme. An example of this type of pattern can be seen in the Tales section of the Nursery Rhymes entitled Babes in the Wood. It reads:

MY dear, do you know,
How a long time ago,
Two poor little children,
Whose names I don't know,

The pattern AABB is a very commonly used in rhyming because it is an easy pattern to follow.  The first two lines rhyme and the third and fourth line rhyme. An example of this type of pattern is present in the common nursery rhyme Rock-a-Bye Baby.

HUSH-A-BYE, baby, on the tree top;
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock;
When the bough bends, the cradle will fall;
Down will come baby, bough, cradle, and all.

 

Rock-a-Bye Baby nursery Rhyme, source: blogspot

A strategy used to break up the monotony of having multiple lines in a row rhyme is to follow the XAXA pattern. In this pattern, the first and third lines are “wild cards” that do not rhyme with each other or with lines two or four. This pattern is not as common, but there was a nursery rhyme I found that utilized this pattern. The nursery rhyme reads:

Jack's mother came in,
And caught the goose soon,
And mounting its back,
Flow up to the moon.

Another pattern to add some interest is to end the last line with a non-rhyming word and following the AAAX style. In this pattern, all of the first three lines rhyme with each other and the last line is the un-like line that does not rhyme. This pattern can be seen in the nursery rhyme that reads:

You shall have a fishy,
In a little dishy;
You shall have a fishy
When the boat comes in.

Week 12 Storytelling: Simon and Sylvia

Man alone in Bar, image source: blogspot

Simon longingly admired Sylvia from across the bar.

Her perfectly curled blonde hair shimmered in the florescent lights hanging from above the bar. She leaned over the bar and laughed as the bartender poured her another martini- her third one of the night if Simon had counted right. He noticed how her perfectly white teeth shone from beneath her full lips and that there was a slight smudge of rocket red lipstick on her front tooth. With her tight black pants and low-cut blouse, Simon noticed every curve of her body. She came to this bar, just a short walk from her building, after work about three nights a week to enjoy martinis. Simon noticed she liked them extra-dry and always asked for an extra olive. He felt like he knew more about this woman than he knew about any other. And he had never even spoken to her.

If only he had the courage to tell her how he felt. It drove him to despair to watch her night after night and know she had no idea how he felt about her. Was she secretly longing after him too?

Sylvia had always noticed a shy man in the corner watching her a couple nights a week at the bar.

The man was normal enough: messy dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and a somewhat crooked nose. He had never approached Sylvia, and seeing as he was not her type at all, she had never acted on his clear display of watching her as she drank her martinis after work. She did not know his name, and she really had no desire to. She was honestly somewhat creeped out by his constant stares but knew he could be of no harm in his denim shirt, faded cords, and loafers. He kind of reminded her of her grandpa.

It was a Thursday night and Simon had suffered through a particularly rough day at the office. His boss would not put him on a project that he clearly deserved to be a part of. He had dropped his coffee all over his lap this morning and went through the rest of the day with a big stain on his pants, to which his coworkers would not stop giving him grief about. When the clock struck 5 pm on the dot, he was out of the office and walking down the street to the bar. He was secretly hoping that Sylvia would be there already martini in hand.

Simon took his normal seat in the corner of the bar and ordered a double vodka-soda. He needed a double after the day he had. And to his disappointment, Sylvia had not arrived at the bar for her normal martinis. Simon closed his eyes and gulped down the drink. He debated whether to get up and leave right then, but decided another drink was well deserved for the pain he suffered at work. He ordered another double vodka-soda and went back to his seat in the corner right when Sylvia walked in the bar.

Sylvia took her normal seat at the bar and asked Bill for her regular. She took off her coat and scanned the bar to find the man sitting in the corner looking at her again. She turned back to face the bar and started on her first martini of the night.

Simon admired how beautiful Sylvia looked today. He wanted to approach her but did not know how. With the two drinks swirling around in his system, he decided he could go up to the bar and pretend to order another drink and "accidentally" bump into her. He got up and walked to the bar. He was about to bump into Sylvia and place his plan into action when he chickened out. He couldn't do it. Now he was standing at the bar with no excuse. He had to order another drink. So he asked for another double vodka-soda and returned to his seat in the corner. Ashamed by his failed attempt, he downed the drink.

In his misery of a day and now failure of talking to his long-time lust, Simon decided it was time to leave the bar and go home. As he stood up his legs felt wobbly beneath him. The drinks had hit him hard. His vision started to blur but he could still make out the beautiful woman sitting at the bar. He decided, with the help of the liquid courage, he would go up and introduce himself. It was now or never.

Sylvia watched as the creepy man walked towards her at the bar. He was staring right at her, not even being subtle, as he stumbled around the tables.

"I like you. You beautiful. I have watched you long time over there. Please be mine. Go on a date with me?" muttered Simon.

Sylvia was appalled. She could not help but laugh.

"You clearly have had too much to drink. You are acting like a clown. You should probably go before you make a bigger fool of yourself," responded Sylvia as she turned to the bar and ignored the sad excuse for a proclamation of love from the drunk man in the corner.



Author's Note: For my story this week I decided to retell one of the nursery rhymes from the Loves and Matrimony section. The original is only 12 lines long. It includes a boy named Simon asking Sylvia if she would be his and Sylvia responds that she would give up her crown rather than marry a clown and tells him to go. This short exchange between the two provides enough information to create a story, but allowed me plenty of room for elaboration.

Bibliography: The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

Week 12 Reading Diary: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes- Tales: Many of the tales I had actually not heard of before. I did recognize the Jack a Nory tale. My favorite part of this reading was focusing on the different rhyming patterns of the different tales. Some had rhyming words at the end of every other line. Some rhymed each line except one. And some rhymed in each line for a given set. I think the rhyming pattern plays an important role in how the tales are interpreted. Choppy rhyming with a random line set in that does not rhythm crates a somewhat anxious flow. While a tale that rhymes every other line seemed to be more up and down and sing-song-ish (such as in Simple Simon).

Nursery Rhymes-Proverbs: The first proverb starts off with very formal and old language such as the inclusion of the words “thou” and “twill.” My favorite one started “a man of words…”  The reason I liked this proverb so much was for the way it was written with every other line following the same basic structure. There was a beginning line that said “And when the…” and the next line reads “It’s like a…” This continues throughout the proverb with each line building on the other.

Nursery Rhymes- Riddles: My ALL TIME favorite unit because I love riddles. I thought these riddles particularly hard because they were very short with little information to reach the conclusion. I am glad the answers to the riddles were included or I would have gone crazy trying to figure them out. After reading the answer, I often said “ohhhh I got it” but some I did not draw the connection to (like the walnut).

 Nursery Rhymes- Paradoxes: I was unsure what to think when first starting this section because I did not know how paradoxes would be presented in a nursery rhyme. Some I found silly like the one about apple-pie and ink and what we would drink. Others I really enjoyed. One I enjoyed the most was the one about the Guinea Pig. Even though it was simply stating the opposite of what he did, it was written in a way that made me enjoy the simplicity of it.

Nursery Rhymes- Charms and Lullabies: I enjoyed reading Peter Piper because as a kid I always loved reciting it to impress my friends. I also recognized the Bye, Baby Bunting rhyme but I can not pin-point why it sticks out to me. And, of course, Rock-a-bye Baby was included.

Nursery Rhymes- Games: I did not think to include some of the rhymes in the games section that were. I am familiar with the rhymes of The Three Pigs and Hickory Dickory Dock, but have never played them as a game. I enjoyed the instructions included as to what the children act out during the nursery rhyme.

Nursery Rhymes- Jingles:  The jingles section included Hey Diddle Diddle which is one of my favorite nursery rhymes and am glad there was an illustration to match. In reading it now as an adult and analyzing it as a part of this class, I do not see the real meaning in it. I enjoyed it as a kid, and still do, but the dish and the spoon at the end are very random. Many of the others I had not heard of or recognized. Many involved cats, which I thought was interesting.

Nursery Rhymes- Love and Matrimony: I was surprised to see Jack and Jill included in the love and matrimony section, but I guess that the interpretation would be that Jack and Jill loved eachother. I greatly enjoyed the rhyme that started with SYLVIA. It started with Simon’s proclamation of love for Sylvia and the next part included her response where she said she would rather “give a crown than be married to a clown.” When reading her response, it made me giggle at her directness. The other interesting rhyme was the one which included the man asking the woman to “walk with thee” which she would not until he offered her his key to his chest of silver and gold (his wealth). How typical?

Nursery Rhymes- Natural History: My favorite of this section was the Cuckoo rhyme which explaines, by each month, the migration patterns of the bird from April to August. Short, but also nice, was the rhyme “THE cock doth crow, To let you know, If you be wise, 'Tis time to rise.” This is the premise behind the expression “waking up at the rooster’s crow” I was intrigued by the version of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep because it was not exactly the version I grew up saying. The last lines are changed from what I know as “one for the little boy who lives down the lane.” I think I like my version better because it is happier instead of the boy getting none and crying.

Nursery Rhymes- Accumulative Stories: I have always loved the accumulative stories and these nursery rhymes did not disappoint. It is interesting to compare them to other tales, specifically the Japanese tales, where the accumulation stories were very dark and often included death and betrayal. The first story was very repetitive and not my favorite accumulation story, but the second nursery rhyme was great! I love when the dialogue becomes the accumulation as the narrator comes up to different people and adds on to the experience just before.