The words of the Diddle Diddle
Dumpling Nursery Rhyme
A mother's words to
a typical boy child
in this poem Diddle
Diddle Dumpling!
No origins in
history can be found
for Diddle Diddle
Dumpling - it is
merely a nonsense
rhyme probably made
popular and handed
down from generation
to generation owing
to the popularity of
the name John
(Diddle Diddle
Dumpling my son
John). It is an
interesting fact
that this is the
only old rhyme that
uses the name John -
all of the older
poems use the
colloquialism for
John i.e. Jack.
John of
Gaunt
Picture of a famous 'John' from English
history. A Plantagenet prince, the rich and
powerful John of Gaunt (1340 - 1399). His
liaison with a commoner called Katherine Swynford produced four illegitimate children who
were given the name Beaufort (He married
Katherine in 1396 and their children, by this
time adults, were legitimised). Their son John
was the Great-Great Grandfather of King Henry
VIII of England.
Diddle Diddle Dumpling Poem
Diddle,
diddle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his trousers on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John!
