Meaning
The book was immediately popular, possibly in part because it was believed to be a political commentary, but it is not clear exactly what readers thought was being satirised. It has been suggested that the character of Mother Hubbard may have its origins in St. Hubert, the dogs' saint. It has also been suggested that the rhyme refers to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey refusing Henry VIII's divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon, but the connection is based on speculation.
Read more about this topic: Old Mother Hubbard
Famous quotes containing the word meaning:
“Life has no meaning unless one lives it with a will, at least to the limit of one’s will. Virtue, good, evil are nothing but words, unless one takes them apart in order to build something with them; they do not win their true meaning until one knows how to apply them.”
—Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)
“All the moral laws are readily translated into natural philosophy, for often we have only to restore the primitive meaning of the words by which they are expressed, or to attend to their literal instead of their metaphorical sense. They are already supernatural philosophy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The meaning of today will not be clear until tomorrow.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)