Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary quite contrary is a seemingly innocent, mother goose nursery rhyme about a garden. However, the nursery rhyme takes on a somewhat sinister meaning when taking history into account.
The nursery rhyme is as follows:
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
And pretty maids all in a row. ”
BY: MOTHER GOOSE
There is much speculation behind the meaning of this old nursery rhyme, but many seem to agree that it centers around Mary Tudor. She was the queen of both England and Ireland from 1553 till her death on November 17th, 1558. Though her reign was short it was riddled with terror. Mary wanted to produce an heir to the throne so that her half-sister would not take over, should something happen. To do this she married Philip II of Spain. The public responded badly to the marriage. Despite becoming unpopular in the eyes of the public Mary pressed forward in her goal to replace her Father’s religious proclamations. In this endeavor, it is said that Mary had over 300 people burned during her reign, this act is why she was nicknamed ‘bloody Mary’.
There are quite a few interpretations of the words of the nursery rhyme. One being that the silver bells in the song represented the bells on a Catholic cathedral, and the ‘pretty maids’ represented a row of nuns. Another interpretation is that the flowers (silver bells, and cockleshells) mentioned in the poem are actually tools of torture. Silver bells were devices used to crush the thumb, and cockleshells were instruments uses on a person’s genitals. The pretty maids all in a row was also said to be those waiting to be excited, with the aforementioned ‘garden’ actually being a cemetery. Still, others believe the ‘pretty maids’ were a nod to the many unsuccessful pregnancies, and stillborn babies Mary had.
Old songs were used as a way to pass information. Even if we are unsure of the exact representation for some of the metaphors used in a song, if it excites our curiosity and causes us to dig deeper into history then perhaps that is all that is needed.