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Line 1: − + − <blockquote> − ''Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,<br /> − ''Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.<br /> − ''All the King's horses, and all the King's men<br /> − ''Couldn't put Humpty together again. − </blockquote> − The poem may originally have been a riddle, with the listener having to guess that Humpty Dumpty is an [[egg]], but there are many other theories about its origins and its meaning.<ref>''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'', edited by Iona and Peter Opie. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1951.</ref> − Humpty Dumpty is also well known as a character in [[Lewis Carroll]]’s ''Through the Looking Glass'', where he explains the meaning of some of the invented words in the poem [[Jabberwocky]]. He also confuses Alice by using words with non-standard meanings, explaining ''“When I use a word, ... it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”''<ref>''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'': [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12 full text] at Project Gutenberg.</ref>:+ − + − :''“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said.+ − :''Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’+ − :''“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.<br/> − :''“When ''I'' use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” − :''“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you ''can'' make words mean so many different things.” − :''“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master that’s all.” − :''Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. “They’ve a temper, some of them—particularly verbs, they’re the proudest—adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs—however, ''I'' can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That’s what ''I'' say!”'' − − ==References== − {{reflist}} − − [[category:Poetry]]
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'''Humpty Dumpty''' is the subject of a well-known [[nursery rhyme]]:<br />
'''Mitchy McConnell''' is the subject of a well-know nursery rhyme.
''Mitchy McConnell sat on a wall,<br />
''Mitchy McConnell had a great fall.<br />
''All King Barack's horses, and all the King Barack's men <br />
''Couldn't put Mitchy together again.