Perhaps Jack and Jill are like Daedalus and Icarus, falling. Perhaps, it’s like the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun on wings made of feathers and wax by his father Daedalus. So, then, the well at the top of the hill is likely a metaphor. Wells are most often, if not entirely, situated in lower areas so one doesn’t have to dig to get to the subterranean water. In the above extra verses, after Jack falls, he uses a compress of vinegar and brown paper, which was a common home remedy at the time for head bruises.īut why did Jack and Jill head up the hill? And what was a well doing atop a hill? What are the meanings of these details? Thus, they are commonly used in nursery rhymes, like “Jack and the Giant Beanstalk.” And “Jack and Jill” is also a phrase used in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, though the reference is unrelated to the nursery rhyme at hand. Just for fun, though, here is one example from the children’s album Fun and Frolic (London and New York, 1900):Īnd Jill in her gown of silk, oh! But What Does It All Mean?įirstly, the names Jack and Jill have long been generic references to a boy and girl. But we won’t spend time explicating those renditions here, as they don’t really pertain to the meaning of the original rhyme. There are also several more recent American and British renditions of the verses, which include shooting a bow and arrow at a cat by mistake and Jack and Jill looking for goblets of milk, or Jack and Jill not realizing there’s a hole in their bucket. Here, “Old Dame Gill” is the children’s mother, who “whips” Jill for laughing at her brother. These are the most common ones known today, though, as stated above, there are upwards of about 15 in total published in 1806 in Jack & Jill and Old Dame Gill. The original first printing of the rhyme included only the first verse: The earliest known version of the rhyme was in a reprinting of John Newbery’s Mother Goose’s Melody, which is believed to have been published in London around 1765. That leads some to think that “Gill” was changed to “Jill” because of the easier alliteration and to diversify the genders in the story. Though illustrations with the original verse did include an illustration of two boys. Originally, “Jack and Jill” was known as “Jack and Gill,” which could either be a reference to two boys, or it could be a lesser-known spelling of “Jill,” with a soft-G. These verses were added to the work some 50 years after the first-known record of the rhyme. To date, there are over a dozen verses known, which include Jack and Jill falling, Jack getting run over by a goat, Jack and Jill’s mother getting run over by a cow, and several other fates. “Jack and Jill” is a traditional English-language nursery rhyme that dates back to the 1700s. Simultaneously, those meanings, because the song is so old, may be hard to trace back to their origins.
With such a ubiquitous and old rhyme as “Jack and Jill,” it’s likely the case that the words have multiple meanings. But who among us knows the meaning of the long-sung work? That’s a different story.Īnd one we will tell right here, right now. Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.But despite the lack of a true survey like that, it can be pretty safely assumed that most people are familiar with the rhyme.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
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