Roses are Red

DESCRIPTION: "Roses are red, violets are blue, (sugar/honey/gillyflower) is sweet and so are you." Or, "...blue, When I choose, it will be you," or "...blue, I love (someone) to jump in with me"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammer Gurton's Garland)
KEYWORDS: nonballad flowers colors | roses violets counting-out
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 458, "The rose is red, the violet blue" (1 text)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 238, (no title) (1 short text: "Roses red, violets blue, cucumbers green and so are you"!); p. 243 (no title) (1 short text)
Carey-MarylandFolkloreAndFolklife, p. 81, "(no title)" (2 short texts, "Roses are red, violets are blue, A face like yours Belongs in the zoo"; "Roses are red, violets are black, You'd look better with a knife in your back")
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 133, "(Roses are red and violets are blue") (1 text, identified as a autograph rhyme)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 120, "Roses are red"; p. 121, "Roses are red" (2 texts)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #494, "Roses are red, violets are blue"; #495, "Roses are red, violets are blue" (2 texts)
Roud #19798
SAME TUNE:
Death of the Old Cat ("Roses are red, violets are pink, The old cat died in the kitchen sink") (Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 105)
NOTES [93 words]: Although this is widely known (i.e. even I heard it in youth), I have seen very little evidence that it is a song and not simply a rhyme. The Opie version is a gift song for Easter; I have not seen this elsewhere (nor seen any other version which mentions the gillyflower).
It certainly has inspired parodies -- e.g. Peter and Iona Opie, I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth, #146, offers "Roses are red, Violets are blue, The shorter the skirt, The better the view" and "Roses are red, Cabbages are green, If my face is funny, Yours is a scream." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: MHAp238A

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