poetry needed [is it a kind of dream?]

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Ok, i need some nursery rhymes or poetry that I can quote / use as a recurring theme in my latest fic effort.

Basically, the premise is about a present day 'luxyry housing development' that was built in 1993, on the old site of / using the building that used to be an insane asylum. That had a terrible fire in 1903 and 51 patients were burned to death.

Soooo..... fire? Burning? Going insane? Nursery rhyme / bit of poetry that can be recited by a possessed little girl as she, while wearing a locket from the past, is the catalyst for a time breakout?

Anyone? ideas? Thanks

Mood::

calm

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There are 14 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

London's Burning? Or the old scouting version (Campfire's Burning) for extra creepy kid-relevant value? Works nicely as a time-breaky thing, since I assume it was originally about the Great Fire of London. Very S&S :)

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I did think of that one, actually, but the lyrics seemed too simple for me, unless there's more to it than i know.

I liked the one in Cruel Immortality:

Whats the matter Fido?
Give the dog a bone
Stick it in the kennel
He'll come home

I really liked that one, the way it was sing-songy in the incidental music, the way people were walking round humming it, the way it was used in the ending, etc.

I dont know if that's a real song or what but that's the way i'm headed, something with 4 lines, something that can be sang by a little girl and then by lots of residents in this luxury housing place that is somehow driving people nuts, that kind of thing.

Anyone, if anyone has any ideas, i'd be grateful. Can't say i'm terribly equipped to write one myself, not being a poet and sucking at rhyming, but i may give it a go.

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"Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children shall burn!"

That's pretty creepy!

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Hmm. I thought of that one too and it again was just too short and simple, i thought. Unless you include the part about the one under the frying pan... Very creepy little rhyme.

I dont know. I was hoping for some simple poetry or something, maybe Shakespeare or Longfellow or Frost or someone famous, with a quick little 4 line rhyme about burning or fire or insanity or all of the above? Something where i could derive a title from as well?

I might be asking for too much, i dont know. I jettisoned most of my english lit knowledge just after passing the exams...

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I haven't done any english lit since GCSE and we didn't read anything cool even then! So I'm a bit useless at good literary quotes.

Maybe something from Dante or something else with good giant pit o' flames stuff in?

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Ah, the Inferno... I'll have to look it up, good idea.

I found one I like by Longfellow, but its not very sing-songy, and a kid wouldn't know it.

I may have to resort to making something up. Hmm.

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Somebody's already suggested London's Burning.

Instead I offer a website about nursery rhymes and their origins here.

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Ahh, thankye. I will give it a perusal in a bit, I'm thumbing through my copy of Hamlet for any good bits to nick.

Or i might write something myself. I dont know. I've never been poetically inclined, but i'm straining to find anything that fits what I want, so i may just have to create it myself.

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My first thought--unhelpful as this is--was the children's song about the Chicago Fire:

One dark night, when we were all in bed
Old Lady Leary lit a lantern in her shed
And when the cow kicked it over,
She winked her eye and said,
"There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight."
Fire, fire, fire.

. . . Yeah, it's not creepy or relevant, but just thought I'd share anyway. *continues to think about nursery rhymes*

The only one that I can think of that I find inherently creepy is:

As I was going up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away

But again with being not relevant.

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I like the last one, yes. I wonder if its been used before?

Its kindof relevant, sortof, maybe. I can MAKE it relevant, change a few words here and there?

Thanks!

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I may have it now. I expanded it to 8 lines, and its fscking brilliant for the story, yes.

THANKS!

*cheers for f-list* You guys rock, i love ya.

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Hooray!!!

SO glad I could be of help. :) :) :)

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The only two I can think of are Ring o' Ring o' Roses about the plague, and frere jacque, about, er, french monks i suppose, and those 2 are i guess not useful as there're not sinister.
Ah, just seen you've found one anyway. /pointless comment

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When in doubt, make it up yourself. Hee :D

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is it a kind of dream?

poetry needed

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