“SOLAR AND LUNAR MYTHS IN MOTHER GOOSE”
Holographic essay on mythology in Mother Goose, written by minister, theologian, and author James Freeman Clarke (1810-88), a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School. It’s unknown whether the undated, two-page essay was published. In addition to writing sermons and religious pamphlets, Clarke contributed essays to The Christian Examiner, The Christian Inquirer, The Christian Register, The Dial, Harper's, The Index, and The Atlantic Monthly.
“Mother Goose” was first associated with nursery rhymes in 1781 with the publication by John Newberry of Mother Goose’s Melody; or Sonnets for the Cradle. Mother Goose is a fictitious old woman. The legend persists that Mother Goose was an actual Boston woman, Elizabeth Goose (Vergoose, or Vertigoose), whose grave in Boston’s Old Granary Burying Ground is still a tourist attraction.
Clarke observed that writers who have analyzed mythology “left unnoticed the solar and lunar myths which have been embodied in that archaic literature, the songs of Mother Goose.” He pointed to several parallels, for example “The cows (according to the well-known custom of the Vedas) stand for the clouds and the sheep for the white mists.” He concluded: “These few specimens are probably enough to show the mythical character of Mother Goose as an epitome of nature worship. These are the hymns which our parents sang in Central Asia before the Vedic age.”
A member of the American Philosophical Society, Clarkes was an abolitionist and proponent of women’s suffrage. In November 1861, he was in Washington, D.C. with Samuel Gridley Howe and Julia Ward Howe. After hearing the song "John Brown's Body", he suggested that Mrs. Howe write new lyrics; the result was "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
The essay is written in black ink of two sheets of watermarked Highland Linen Bond with light creasing from prior folds; otherwise very good. Item #76870
Price: $200.00