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Some fragments from the history of children's folklore in England

PhD Mizrabova Jeren Ismailovna, Bukhara State University

(Bukhara State University, Uzbekistan)

Tel:+99890 712 25 55 e-mail:[email protected]

The ability to see, feel and appreciate beauty does not come immediately. This must be taught from early childhood. Unfortunately, many modern films and computer games, which schoolchildren are so fond of, are not able to teach them either kindness, good taste or creativity. At the beginning of the new century, there is an increased interest in national culture, ethnic processes, traditional artistic creativity, and folklore. The preservation and development of the national culture, its roots is a major task that requires a careful attitude towards the monuments of history and culture, towards traditional folk art. The revival of folklore, folk customs, rituals and holidays is an urgent problem of our time. Folklore reveals the soul of the people, their dignity and characteristics. From the point of view of science, folklore is a phenomenon that deserves special study and careful evaluation. Key words: folklore, English, children’s folklore, folk, history, Great Britain, Mother Goose, Humpty Dumpty Introduction: The term "folklore" was introduced into science by the English scientist William Thoms in 1846. The term is accepted in international science and in translation means - the wisdom of the people. Folklore is the life of the people, its history, its gradual development. Folklore is national, this is its dignity. Every nation has traditions, customs, symbols of worship. The future of every nation is associated with national culture. Folklore is a historical category. People and works of art are integral parts. Specific features of folklore: Each nation has its own characteristics of development and life. But these features are also influenced by some factors - geographic location, climatic conditions, historical prerequisites. A person cannot live in isolation from his roots, he grows and absorbs the culture of his ancestors. Therefore, it is often and quickly possible to determine what nationality a person is, and to judge his genetic characteristics. Each person is a bearer of the past and a bearer of a national character, he is a part of society and a part of its history. Culture, despite constant intellectual changes, is the fundamental basis of social development, one of the productive means of the formation and development of a person. Cultures are specific, but the constant interaction of peoples of different countries brings arts closer together. Hence, folklore works and skills are passed directly from generation to generation. The earliest sources of folklore in Great Britain are epics such as the legends of Beowulf, already known in the 8th century. The poem tells about the heroic deeds of the protagonist, who, according to legend, became the king of one of the Scandinavian tribes. Written by an unknown author, it was later overgrown with many additions about the heroic deeds of Beowulf and his soldiers. The poem was very popular for many centuries and was the work that was actively studied in the classroom in the native language, was reprinted many times. Despite the fact that the poem has undergone numerous literary adaptations, it continues to enjoy immense popularity among both children and adults in the UK. After a rather long period, another epic folk work appears in English literature. These are legends about the exploits of King Arthur and his knights. Over time, they acquired numerous details and details and subsequently made up the so-called "Cycle of the exploits of King Arthur". King Arthur is a historical person who fought against the conquerors of the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century. But the people themselves composed numerous legends about him and subsequently Arthur became a national hero. The exploits of King Arthur and his knights have also been widely known to the people of Great Britain since the middle of the 13th century. King Arthur is a historical person who fought against the conquerors of the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century. But the people themselves composed numerous legends about him and subsequently Arthur became a national hero. The exploits of King Arthur and his knights have also been widely known to the people of Great Britain since the middle of the 13th century. In addition to such epic works, the peoples inhabiting the islands of Great Britain knew and composed other works of oral folk art. Thus, in England in the XVII - XVIII centuries. written preservation of oral folk art begins. Folklore is becoming popular not only in families of peasants and commoners, where grandmothers and parents of children could not read, but knew many genres of folklore - from lullabies, counting rhymes, riddles to ballads about the great historical events of the country. The works created by the people begin to penetrate into the families of aristocrats, thanks to the nannies and governesses who read funny, bright, rhymed counting rhymes, tongue twisters, shepherd songs, riddles for the development of intelligence, folk games full of enthusiasm. Heroes created by the people: "Mother Goose" , a boy with a finger (Tom Thumb), Nurse Lovechild, Humpty Dumpty become known to a wide range of readers thanks to books that were published for reading. They were especially read with pleasure in families. These were the first collections of folk art for children, which combined instruction with entertainment, many of which have come down to us and are still popular among English-speaking children. Another well-known ethnic character, which, on the one hand, is associated with English humor, and on the other, according to the English researcher Lina Eckerstein, with the May holidays, when a partner is chosen in a dance or a marriage is combined, is another heroine very popular in England - Miss Muffit. Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet, Eating her curds and whey; There came a big spider, Who sat down beside And frightened Miss Muffet away. It is believed that the heroine of this verse is Patience Maffit, daughter of entomologist Thomas Muffet (1553-1604), who admired spiders like no other. It is believed that this children's song was first published not earlier than 1805, and later it appeared under different names, for example: "Little Miss Tucket - Sat on a bucket ..."; "Little Miss Mopsey - Sat in a shopsey ..." etc. The humor of this song, like the satire of the previous song, reflects the simple, ingenuous language in which children usually speak unambiguously and without allegories. Children's folklore is one of the most lively and rich phenomena of modern culture. It contains both very old works and newly born ones at the same time. In England, folk art lost its adult audience at the beginning of the 18th century, and all the wealth of thoughts and feelings of English folklore, reflected in folklore, became the property of children. If the glory and pride of German, Russian, Scandinavian folklore are folk tales, then English folklore for children is famous for its small forms: songs, nursery rhymes, fables, counting rhymes. This part of folklore, as O.A. Kapitsa points out, was transferred to a book for children in England much earlier than in other countries. The oldest and most original creations addressed to children were songs known as "Children's Poems" or "Songs of Mother Goose". Nobody knows when they emerged, and the names of their creators are also unknown. It is only clear that initially they were not intended for children. The name "Mother Goose" itself comes from a collection of 52 poems by John Newbury, published between 1760 and 1765. The book was a great success, and since then collections of children's folklore began to appear in the country one after another. Moreover, each publisher supplemented the first collection of songs with more and more new works of folk art. "Mother Goose" first appeared in France in 1650, and in 1697 Charles Perrault first published the folk tales he had processed under the title "The Tales of Mother Goose". These tales were translated into English in 1729. Mother Goose is already so many years old that no one remembers when she was born. The first written mention of it dates back to 1650, which is more than 360 years ago. Most likely, this is a collective image of several authors. Nursery rhymes and songs from her collection have long been considered folk. And although at first glance they seem simple and even absurd, there is a real historical character or fact behind each of them. Mother Goose in England does not speak prose, does not tell fairy tales, but sings songs, chants jokes and counting rhymes. Mother Goose is a fictional author of English poems and fairy tales for children. In books, she is often portrayed as an old woman in a cap and cape riding a goose, or as a goose in a cap and reading glasses. She is cheerful and respects childhood, therefore she does not strive for boring morality, but laughs contagiously with her children. This combination of poetry and slyness, fun and wisdom is the secret of her youth. Mother Goose, having come up with funny shape-shifters, nonsense and absurdities, has been laughing with her children for four or five hundred years. And these poems do not age at all and do not get bored over time. The lives of many generations of English children have passed along with these poems. For quite a long time there was also a legend that the real woman Elizabeth Goose was considered the Mother Goose. Another version of the actually existing prototype of Mother Goose is the connection between Mother Goose and a storyteller named Bertha. This famous storyteller, according to one of the possible versions, could be considered the Queen of France Bertha (wife of King Pepin), which, due to the size and shape of its feet, very similar to webbed goose feet, received the nickname "Queen - Goosefoot". However, Mother Goose is traditionally considered a fictional character. Scientists are still debating what was the basis for the emergence of such a phenomenon as "Songs of the Mother Goose." Indeed, many of them are associated or hint at actual historical facts, although their secret meaning is hidden by the veil of time. Mother Goose's poems are not just a set of random rhymes meant for children's play. They reflect not only the realities of the life of the British of past centuries, but also political trends, historical events and the role in the history of various statesmen. In England, they believe that Mother Goose lived in England and was an old woman, selling flowers on the streets of Oxford and sang funny songs in between times. Here why in these rhymes the cow flies higher clouds, people live in shoes, and swim in leaky basin. It is about this English Mother Goose and there will be a speech. More precisely, not about her, but about the collection English children's poetry. So we failed find the answer to the question: "Who is such a Mother Goose? " But in England, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand - in short, in all countries where people speaking English, every boy and every girl, also their parents, like grandmothers and great-grandmothers, grandfathers and great- grandfathers, they know and love poems and songs of Mother-Goose. In the United States, they say that Mother Goose's name was Elizabeth Fergus. She was the mother-in-law of a Boston artist who lived in the first half of the 19th century. Many modern linguists believe that there is a rather serious historical background behind the one of the most famous English nursery rhymes as "Black Sheep". So, it is believed that one of the first references to "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is to be found in the eighteenth century, in the collection "Melodies of Mother Goose", the most famous book of poetry for children in England at that time. In the thirties of the last century, stories about real characters in a children's book were published by the cultural scientist, Catherine Thomas. Searching for prototypes of fairy-tale heroes in English folklore, she came to the conclusion that the popular song was written not at all about a sheep, and its meaning was hardly given to a little pink-cheeked toddler to understand. On the contrary, it is public opinion, the response of the peasants to the exorbitant taxes of the Middle Ages. This is a wool tax. According to historical records, wool taxes were paid by peasants from 1275 until the fifteenth century. The latter considered the tax to be simply predatory, hence this bitter ridicule song was born. Later, another hidden meaning was found in the song. The Americans suggested that the words "black sheep" meant an African American slave, and even suggested replacing the word "black" with something more neutral. However, this hypothesis did not take root at all, and the "sheep" did not change its color. But it took on a new meaning. The line "Yes, sir, yes, sir, full of three sacks, sir!". The story of the origin of the sentence about the ladybug is often associated with the Great Fire of London in 1666. The fire started at Thomas Farriner's bakery on Padding Lane. It caught fire just after midnight on Sunday 2 September. The fire began to spread rapidly through the city in a westerly direction due to the strong wind. The fire continued for four days, from September 2 to 5, 1666. An attempt to extinguish the fire is believed to have been successful because the east wind died. The city suffered enormous damage: 13,200 houses and more than 80 churches (including St. Paul's Cathedral) were burned down. However, London was later completely remodeled under the direction of the remarkable architect Christopher Wren. The fire also helped to get rid of the Great Plague that raged in London in 1665. And the memory of this event was preserved by a cheerful children's verse about a ladybug. Lady Bird. Ladybird, ladybird fly away home, Your house in on fire and your children are gone, All except one and that's little Ann, For she crept under the frying pan. The nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” is dedicated to King Richard III, who actually fell from the wall during the battle of 1485. There is another version, according to which the so-called large fortress tool. During the English Civil War (1642-1649), a huge Humpty Dumpty cannon fell from a damaged fortress wall. Attempts to lift and collect it were in vain. Humpty Dumpty was a great serf tool. The story with him is connected with the events of the Civil War in England (1642-1649), which took place during the siege of the city of Colchester by Cromwell's supporters in the summer of 1648. Royalists (supporters of the king) strongly fortified Colchester. A huge weapon, colloquially called "Humpty-Dumpty", was installed on the wall next to St. Mary's Church. During the siege, the attackers succeeded in damaging the wall below the Humpty Dumpty with a cannon shot, and the gun fell to the ground. The Royalists tried to install Humpty Dumpty on a different part of the wall. However, the cannon was so heavy that "all the king's men and all the king's horses could not lift it again." As a result, the Royalist forces were severely undermined and strategically important Colchester fell after an 11-week siege. Conclusion: The study of children's literature should begin from ancient times, when creativity was nameless and oral. During the study, we got acquainted with wonderful English poems, ballads that were created by the English people. Mother Goose's poems are not just a set of random rhymes meant for children's play. They reflect not only the realities of the life of the British of past centuries, but also political trends, historical events and the role in the history of various statesmen. Having emerged in the 15th century in the form of children's lullabies, they turned into an independent literary genre and were published already in the 18th century in the form of collections, and by the end of the 19th century they attracted the attention of a huge number of historians and linguists. And we can safely say that the songs of Mother Goose are not just beautiful poems, images familiar from childhood, which in the original help us improve our knowledge of the English language, but also an interesting research subject that contributes to our acquaintance with the history and culture of the country whose language we are studying. Works of children's folklore expand our knowledge and understanding of the oral work of the people of the country of the target language and testify to its genre diversity. 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