Was the nursery rhyme ‘Ring around the rosie’ inspired by the Plague? It is generally thought so, with the rings referring to the red rings that formed on the skin of victims, while the posies reference could refer to the thought the disease was spread by bad smells
And the ‘We all fall down’ line? Well it doesn’t take a genius to guess that it might refer to the Plague’s high mortality rate…
Whether this is true or not will never be known for sure but it makes a great story.
‘Ring around the rosie’ lyrics
Ring-a-ring o’ roses,
A pocket full of posies.
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down