The Plague in England
Anne Roberts explores the incidence of plague in England from 1348 to 1679.
Ring a ring o'roses
A pocket full of posies
Atishoo! Atishoo!
We all fall down
Cheerful as this children's rhyme sounds, one theory of its origin is as a description of plague. 'Ring o'roses' referred to the skin changes that resulted from it, and sneezing was a symptom of the respiratory form of the disease. The pleasant smell of a posy of fragrant herbs was believed to prevent contagion from bad smells, and many of those who 'fell down' in real life never got up again. Though the rhyme is now all that remains of the plague in English folk memory, it dominated English life for two-and-a-half centuries, from 1348 to 1679, and left its mark on history and literature.
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