Little Miss Muffet

"Little Miss Muffet" Roud #20605
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for "Little Miss Muffet", from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose
Written by	Traditional
Published	1805
Written	England
Language	English
Form	Nursery rhyme

The "Little Miss Muffet" scenario explained by Denslow

1940 WPA poster using "Little Miss Muffet" to promote reading among children.

"Little Miss Muffet" is a nursery rhyme, one of the most commonly printed in the mid-twentieth century.^[1] It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605.

Lyrics

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey;

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away.^[1]

Origins and meaning

The rhyme first appeared in print in 1805, in a book titled Songs for the Nursery. Like many such rhymes, its origins are unclear. Some claim it was written by Dr. Thomas Muffet (d.1604), a sixteenth-century English entomologist, for his stepdaughters; others claim it refers to Mary, Queen of Scots (1543–87), who was said to have been frightened by religious reformer John Knox (1510–72).^[2] The former explanation is speculative and the latter is doubted by most literary scholars, who note that stories linking folk tales or songs to political events are often urban legends.^[1]

Alternative Lyrics

There is also an alternative set of lyrics which has been taught in some countries where whey is not a common food stuff.^[3] In the nineteenth century the rhyme existed in many alternative versions including: 'Little Mary Ester, Sat upon a tester' (1812); 'Little Miss Mopsey, Sat in the shopsey' (1842). These rhymes may be parodies of whichever is the original.^[1]

In 1868, the supposed partner of Walt Whitman, Peter Doyle, allegedly wrote a version of little Miss Muffet that some experts believe could be a metaphorical representation of their relationship.

Little Miss Man

Had a great plan

to get her man to love

Along came the writer

Who sat down beside her

and said "you fit like a glove."

The poem was signed 16.4, which was Whitman's method of concealing Doyle's identity,^[4] and is thought to represent the sudden and explosive sexual relationship that is rumored to have existed between the two. In the 1960 revue Beyond the Fringe, the English humourist and musician Dudley Moore sang "Little Miss Muffet" in the style of Peter Pears and as if it had been set to music by Benjamin Britten.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 323-4.
2. ^ 'Was Little Miss Muffet a local girl?'. Brookmans Park Newsletter, retrieved 02/04/09.
3. ^ A. Sorby, Schoolroom Poets: Childhood and the Place of American Poetry, 1865-1917 (UPNE, 2005), p. 80.
4. ^ C. Shively, Calamus Lovers: Walt Whitman's Working Class Camerados (San Francisco, CA: Gay Sunshine Press, 1987), ISBN 9780917342189.

See also

Children's literature portal

• Arachnophobia