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Exercise #477: Self Knowledge
Posted 7/20/12
Today’s exercise comes from Richard, though he may not remember suggesting it.
In a critique of another DDer’s work, he wrote, “You have brought back a charming old Nursery Rhyme for us. Like most -- maybe all such poems -- it comes from a great long ago and probably came into being orally, before writing got to be widespread.
As with all these old tales, we get the feeling they are talking about real people and real events. But what people? What events?
Who, for example was Humpty Dumpty? Was this name a bit of code signifying some indecisive king who lost his throne? King Harald, the last Saxon monarch, perhaps? Or maybe Charles I who was beheaded to make way for the Commonwealth?
And Old Mother Hubbard (whose cupboard was bare) may have been code for Elizabeth I who could fetch no bone (child) for her dog (Robert Dudley or Robert Devereux). What fun the populace must have had satirizing the nobility by inventing rhymes we call Nursery Rhymes!
Hey Diddle Diddle is more than puzzling: it is a total enigma. I wouldn't be surprised if cat, cow, dog, dish, and spoon were all historical characters involved in some titillating misadventure long, long ago.
I was thinking it would be great fun to have an exercise where listmembers create their own Nursery Rhymes that make fun of the high and mighty of OUR day. I know whom I would write about. Whom would you choose?”
So here’s your task: Write a nursery rhyme using today’s people or events as your inspiration. Then think about why you chose what you did, and why you wrote it the way you did. Finally, share with us what you choose to from this.
You may:
* Share only your nursery rhyme.
* Share your nursery rhyme and a brief summary of what you’ve learned about yourself by doing this exercise, or
* Share only what you learned. Keep the rhyme a secret!
As always, you may show a character tackling this exercise instead.
Critiquers, along with a technical critique, give us your thoughts on how current the nursery rhyme is, if the author has shared it with us.
Word limit: 1200
Please use the subject line:
SUB: Exercise #477/yourname
Why this is a self-knowledge exercise: This exercise might give you the opportunity to examine how you see today’s events.
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