Wise Men of Gotham — Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

Three wise men of Gotham,

They went to sea in a bowl,

And if the bowl had been stronger

My song had been longer.

Explore Words From This Rhyme

More Nursery Rhymes

Browse all nursery rhymes →

Learning from "Wise Men of Gotham"

Nursery rhymes are some of the best teachers of rhythm and rhyme. "Wise Men of Gotham" uses 4 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.

Create your own verse

Inspired by "Wise Men of Gotham"? Try writing your own rhymes:

Generate a verse

Frequently asked questions

What are the words to Wise Men of Gotham?: The lyrics to Wise Men of Gotham are: Three wise men of Gotham, / They went to sea in a bowl, / And if the bowl had been stronger / My song had been longer.
How many lines does Wise Men of Gotham have?: "Wise Men of Gotham" has 4 lines of verse.

Explore More Word Tools

Rap Generator — Create rap lyrics instantly from real song lines.
Rhyme Finder — Search 130,000+ rhyming word pairs.
Dictionary — Look up definitions for over 100,000 words.
Thesaurus — Find synonyms and similar words for 70,000+ entries.
Popular Rhymes — Browse the most-searched rhyme pairs.
Scrabble Word Finder — Find valid words from your letter tiles.
Name Rhyme Finder — Find names that rhyme with any word from 128,000+ names.
Nursery Rhymes — Browse 1,000+ classic children's poems with full lyrics.
Rap Name Generator — Generate unique rap stage names across different hip-hop styles.