"Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is a nursery rhyme or folksong and playground singing game. It first appeared in print in 1881; but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s and similar rhymes are known from across Europe. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925. Urban legend says the song originally described the plague, but folklorists reject this idea.
Read more about Ring A Ring O' Roses: Lyrics, Plague Interpretation
Famous quotes containing the words ring a, ring and/or roses:
“He, that holds fast the golden mean,
And lives contentedly between
The little and the great,
Feels not the wants that pinch the poor,
Nor plagues that haunt the rich man’s door,
Imbitt’ring all his state.”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8)
“Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engendered in the eyes,
With gazing fed, and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy’s knell.
I’ll begin it. Ding, dong, bell.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The roses you lifted to your lips ... lucky roses!”
—Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)