Jack Sprat first appears in print around 1569—it cropped up twice ... The earliest surviving printed record of the “Jack Sprat” nursery rhyme is from John Clarke’s 1639 collection of ...

Rhyme thrives at both poles of literature. It is the material of a greeting card—“Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so are you”—and the high-tragic language of ...