Mary Had a Little Lamb
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" | |
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![]() Illustration by William Wallace Denslow (1902) | |
Nursery rhyme | |
Songwriter(s) | Sarah Josepha Hale or John Roulstone |
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622.
Background[]
The nursery rhyme was first published by the Boston publishing firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon, as a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was possibly inspired by an actual incident.[1] As described in one of Hale's biographies:
"Sarah began teaching young boys and girls in a small school not far from her home [in Newport, New Hampshire]...It was at this small school that the incident involving 'Mary's Lamb' is reputed to have taken place. Sarah was surprised one morning to see one of her students, a girl named Mary, enter the classroom followed by her pet lamb. The visitor was far too distracting to be permitted to remain in the building and so Sarah 'turned him out.' The lamb stayed nearby till school was dismissed and then ran up to Mary looking for attention and protection. The other youngsters wanted to know why the lamb loved Mary so much and their teacher explained it was because Mary loved her pet. Then Sarah used the incident to get a moral across to the class:
And you each gentle animal,
In confidence may bind,
And make them answer to your call,
If you are always kind."[2]
Controversy[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Redstone_School.jpg/220px-Redstone_School.jpg)
In 1876, at the age of 70 years, Mary Tyler (née Sawyer; March 22, 1806 - December 11, 1889) emerged to claim that she was the "Mary" from the poem.[3] As a young girl, Mary kept a pet lamb that she took to school one day, at the suggestion of her brother. A commotion naturally ensued. Mary recalled, "visiting school that morning was a young man, by the name of John Roulstone; a nephew of the Reverend Lemuel Capen, who was then settled in Sterling. It was the custom then, for students to prepare for college, with ministers and, for this purpose, Roulstone was studying with his uncle. The young man was very much pleased, with the incident of the lamb and, the next day, he rode across the fields on horseback, to the little old schoolhouse and handed me a slip of paper, which had written upon it the three original stanzas of the poem ..."[4] This account is not supported by evidence, beyond Mary's memory. The "slip of paper" has never been produced as evidence. The earliest existing evidence of the poem's publication is Sarah Josepha Hale's 1830 collection of poems, supporting her complete authorship of the poem.
Even though this claim lives on unsupported by evidence, multiple sites in the town of Sterling, Massachusetts, perpetuate the claim. A two foot tall (61 cm) statue and historical marker, representing Mary's Little Lamb, stands in the town center.[5] The Redstone School, where Mary Sawyer attended school and purports the incident takes place, was built in 1798. The property was later purchased by Henry Ford[6] and relocated[citation needed] to a churchyard, on the property of Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Mary Sawyer's house, located in Sterling, Massachusetts, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, but was destroyed by arson on August 12, 2007.[7]
Text[]
The text as originally published[8] consisted of three stanzas, each of eight lines, although the ABAB rhyming scheme allows each stanza to be divided into two four-line parts.
MARY’S LAMB.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go ;
He followed her to school one day—
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
And so the Teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear ;
And then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said—‘ I’m not afraid—
You’ll keep me from all harm.’
‘ What makes the lamb love Mary so ?’
The eager children cry—
‘ O, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The Teacher did reply ;—
‘ And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’
In the 1830s, Lowell Mason set the nursery rhyme to a melody adding repetition in the verses:
Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb
Whose fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
School one day, school one day,
He followed her to school one day
Which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out,
Turned it out, turned it out,
And so the teacher turned it out,
But still it lingered near,
He waited patiently about,
Patiently about, patiently about,
He waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?
Love Mary so? Love Mary so?
Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cried.
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,
Lamb, you know, lamb, you know,
Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"
The teacher did reply.[9]
Recordings[]
The rhyme was the first audio recorded by Thomas Edison on his newly invented phonograph in 1877.[10] It was the first instance of recorded English verse,[10] following the recording of the French folk song "Au clair de la lune" by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1860. In 1927, Edison reenacted the recording, which still survives.[11] The earliest recording (1878) was retrieved by 3D imaging equipment in 2012.[12]
Alternative versions[]
In 1968, the song was popularized in a playful fashion by blues guitarist Buddy Guy, who might have taken the melody for his version from Freddie King's "Just Pickin'". It was covered in a similar fashion by Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1983.[13]
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is also a song written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney and released as a non-album single by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings in March 1972. It is based on the traditional nursery rhyme of the same name.
Media[]
Note: This melody is the British version, which is slightly different from the American version.[how?]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Full text of Poems for our children: including Mary had a little lamb : designed for families, Sabbath schools, and infant schools : written to inculcate moral truths and virtuous sentiments
- ^ Rogers, Sherbrooke (1985). Sarah Josepha Hale: A New England Pioneer, 1788-1879. Grantham, New Hampshire: Tompson & Rutter. p. 14.
- ^ Sonnichsen, Sandra. "Who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb?". Richards Free Library.
- ^ Roulstone, John; Mary (Sawyer) and her friends (1928). The Story of Mary's Little Lamb. Dearborn: Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ford. p. 8.
- ^ Bronze of lamb.
- ^ Bryan, F.R. (2002). Friends, Families & Forays: Scenes from the Life and Times of Henry Ford. Wayne State University Press. p. 381. ISBN 978-0-8143-3684-7. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ "Sterling fire called arson". Worcester Telegram & Gazette News. August 14, 2007. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- ^ Sarah J. Hale (1830). Poems for Our Children. Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon. pp. 6–7.
- ^ "LOWELL MASON, "Mary Lamb" [music] in Juvenile Lyre, Or, Hymns and Songs, Religious, Moral, and Cheerful, Set to Appropriate Music, For the Use of Primary and Common Schools, Boston: Richardson, Lord & Holbrook; Hartford, H. & F. J. Huntington, – Richards". Forgotten Chapters of Boston's Literary History. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Matthew Rubery, ed. (2011). "Introduction". Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies. Routledge. pp. 1–21. ISBN 978-0-415-88352-8.
- ^ Thomas Edison (30 November 1926). "Mary had a little lamb" – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Grondahl, Paul (2012-10-26). "Hear the earliest known recording of voice, music". Timesunion.com. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- ^ "Blues Genealogy: "Mary Had a Little Lamb"". TrueFire Blog - Guitar Lessons. 2010-10-12. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
- American children's songs
- Traditional children's songs
- Songs about sheep
- Songs about shepherds
- Fictional sheep
- Songs about fictional female characters
- American nursery rhymes