The Inner City Mother Goose by Eve Merriam
"The Inner City Mother Goose" by Eve Merriam is a poetry collection that reinterprets classic nursery rhymes through a lens that reflects the challenges and realities of urban life in the United States. Comprising sixty-five poems, the work employs two-line verses and full-page parodies to comment on societal issues such as poverty, crime, and the shortcomings of public institutions. The accompanying illustrations by Lawrence Ratzkin utilize stark black-and-white photography and drawings, enhancing the themes of contrast between hope and despair prevalent in inner city settings.
Merriam's verses critique various figures, from politicians to landlords, and address the impact of drugs and crime on communities, suggesting that these issues are not confined to any single city but resonate across many urban environments. While the language in the poems is blunt and reflective of street vernacular, this authenticity appeals to young adult readers who seek literature that challenges societal norms and speaks truthfully about contemporary struggles.
Since its release, "The Inner City Mother Goose" has been both celebrated and controversial, appearing in educational contexts yet also facing challenges for its content. Merriam's work serves as a poignant commentary on the slow process of societal change, making it relevant to discussions around freedom of speech, civil rights, and the complexities of life in diverse urban landscapes.
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The Inner City Mother Goose by Eve Merriam
First published: 1969; illustrated
Subjects: Crime, poverty, race and ethnicity, and social issues
Type of work: Poetry
Recommended Ages: 13-18
Form and Content
Eve Merriam’s sixty-five poems in The Inner City Mother Goose are moving portrayals of the evils lurking in the guts of cities across the United States. The illustrations by Lawrence Ratzkin are black-and-white photographs and drawings that visually balance the white-on-black and black-on-white print of the poetry pages. In only ninety-five pages, this book explodes two-line verses to full-page parodies of the original Mother Goose rhymes. The reading of this piece is neither contextually nor prosaically difficult. The book seems to stimulate readers to look deeper, to examine further.
The poems themselves as listed in the table of contents may have original titles such as “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” and “Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?” Others have easily recognizable similarities to familiar titles, such as “Poverty Program Hot, Poverty Program Cold” and “What Are Winter Nights Made Of?” Blunt criticisms of politicians, law enforcement officers, drug dealers, and absentee landlords fill the pages, which cry to be crimson and gold instead of ebony and crystal.
Not only are public servants condemned but also the shopkeeper who cheats customers, the landlord who does not repair apartments, the school board members who merely rename schools after African American leaders but do no more. The role of the media is mildly knifed in verses about television shows, newspaper local advertising, and commercials.
Washington, D.C., and New York City are specifically named in photographs or in words, but cities such as Chicago or Los Angeles could as easily fit the images and poems. Any melting pot of humanity might have the same contrast of good and bad, hope and despair. As drugs and crime invade most sections of the United States, even small cities of the Midwest such as Lima, Ohio; Worth, Illinois; and Portage, Michigan, have educational programs for youths to make them aware of modern problems.
The dust jacket of the original work shows a photograph of a large mousetrap on the front and back. A drawing of a simple mouse near the baitless trap and the title, author, and illustrator names appear in red crayon, graffiti-style printing. The back cover quotes critic Ramsey Clark, who compares the book to the works about ghetto children by Lewis Carroll and Jonathan Swift.
Critical Context
In the 1970’s, The Inner City Mother Goose was used in classes for teacher education preparation in children’s literature. By the 1990’s, it was mentioned in children’s literature textbooks as a work for adult readers presented in the form of a children’s picture book. The work has sometimes been omitted from school reading lists or taken off library shelves because of the use of a few words that are considered unacceptable. Within the body of the verses, strong language reflects street talk rather than the vocabulary of the intelligentsia. Yet, it seems that young adults are drawn to books of this type precisely for these reasons. Moreover, authors such as Eve Merriam are viewed by this audience as having something important to say and not being afraid to disturb the people in power—traits that are admired by many young adults.
The issues analyzed in The Inner City Mother Goose—the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression at the college level, and the Civil Rights movement—have made the book attractive to general audiences, professors, college students, and critics. The slow and painful process of change in a society is shown as a challenge in this collection of poems and graphic images.
This poetry collection appeared in the middle of Merriam’s career. Her works, both those for adults and those for younger readers, often touch on controversial social issues. She explores sexism in Boys and Girls, Girls and Boys (1972), a picture book for children, and celebrates feminism in Mommies at Work (1961) and Growing Up Female in America (1971). Merriam also writes lighter works: It Doesn’t Always Have to Rhyme (1964) makes the study of poetry forms fun, The Birthday Cow (1978) contains fifteen poems celebrating the humorous aspects of contemporary life, and Halloween ABC (1987) is a simple children’s book. The Inner City Mother Goose appears to be the most impassioned of her literary products.