ALPHABET RHYME

mnemonic verse or song used to help children learn an alphabet; such devices appear in almost every alphabetic language. Some of the early English favourites are about 300 years old and have served as models for countless variations. One is a cumulative rhyme to which there is a printed reference as early as 1671. It often appeared in 18th-century chapbooks under the imposing name The Tragical Death of A, Apple Pye Who was Cut in Pieces and Eat by Twenty-Five Gentlemen with whom All Little People Ought to be Very well acquainted. It begins: A was an apple-pie; B bit it, C cut it, D dealt it, etc. Another, known as Tom Thumb's Alphabet, enjoyed continuous popularity. The earliest printed record of it is from c. 1712. In its most familiar version, the rhyme begins: A was an archer, who shot at a frog. B was a butcher, and had a great dog. These early rhymes showed little discrimination in subject matter. Lines such as D was a drunkard, and had a red face, U was a Usurer took Ten per Cent, or Y was a youth, that did not love school were later considered to have a harmful effect on children; they were replaced by the widely taught alphabet rhyme of the New-England Primer, published by Benjamin Harris (q.v.) in the late 17th century, which combined moral messages with the learning of letters: In Adam's fall We sinned all. A simplified version of English alphabet rhyme, popular today, is sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q and R and S and T U V W X Y Z Now I've said my ABC's, Tell me what you think of me.