Hickory dickory dock. Final Thoughts. There is so much happening at once in a successful, memorable nursery rhyme. From multiple meanings and uses to certain sonic qualities and rhymes and characters.

Hickory Dickory Dock is one of the most beloved nursery rhymes in the English-speaking world. First recorded in print in 1744 in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book.

Hickory, Dickory, Dock can trace its origins back to Tudor times. By then the cathedral was already some 300 years old. One theory is that the rodent-themed ode began life here in Devon beneath ...