Ring Around the Roses — Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

Ring a-round the roses,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down!
Alternates/History:
There are many different alternates to this rhyme; the rhyme above is the most modern version.
A more traditional version goes:
Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
Achoo!, Achoo!
We all fall down.
This innocent sounding rhyme, first appearing in the 1881 book Mother Goose, is actually a much older chant that goes back to the 1660s and is thought to be about the Plague of London which killed 70,000 of the 460,000 residents. "Ring-a-ring o' roses" refers to the rosy colored rash one would get. An early symptom of the plague.
"Pocket full of posies" refers to the medicine and herbs people carried in their pockets to prevent the plague.
"Achoo! Achoo! We all fall down" are the last sneezes of the person and collapse of one who had died.

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Learning from "Ring Around the Roses"

Nursery rhymes are some of the best teachers of rhythm and rhyme. "Ring Around the Roses" uses 14 lines to create a memorable verse — proof that effective poetry doesn't need to be long. Pay attention to the meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is what makes the rhyme stick in your head.

Songwriters and poets can borrow these patterns. Try writing your own lyrics using the same rhyme scheme and line length as this nursery rhyme. You can also use words from the poem above as starting points — click any word to find rhymes or look up its definition, then build from there.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the words to Ring Around the Roses?
The lyrics to Ring Around the Roses are: Ring a-round the roses, / A pocket full of posies, / Ashes! Ashes! / We all fall down! / Alternates/History: / There are many different alternates to this rhyme; the rhyme above is the most modern version. ... Read the full 14-line nursery rhyme at Rhyme Buster.
How many lines does Ring Around the Roses have?
"Ring Around the Roses" has 14 lines of verse.

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