"In Adam's Fall": New England Primer ABCs

"The mood shines bright in time of night" explains that even in the darkest hours or even the worst situations the person might think they are in, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and a positivity that can be found if looked for. I myself can relate to this because I always try hardest to look for that positivity in every situation. What I think went well with this quote is, "Nightmares sing in time of spring". This quote stood out to me the most. This explains that to every good, there is a bad, and to every bad, there is good, creating an important balance so one can appreciate the good when it's there. If everything was good all the time, how would we appreciate it without the bad? "My book and heart shall never part" is one other quote I liked. To me, it shows a sense of self appreciation. The book can be looked at as the persons journey, the ups and downs, the positives and negatives, the losses and gains. This can also be a continuing story of ones life which the person consistently updates. So holding on to this book, and appreciating it, can help the person realize they are who they are because of this journey that has been written in this book, thus, "my book and heart shall never part".

In "Adams Fall We sinned All" illustrates a rhyme that was used in childrens alphabet books to help them recite and memorize words back in the 1650's. Compared to how children readings are written now to the reading then it clearly dictates how different and difficult this style of teaching was. In modern childrens reading authors use very bright, cheerful,fun illustrations to really connect the children into what they are reading. In "Adams Fall We sinned All" In one of the lines that stood out to me the most was" The idle Fool Is whipt at school" giving me the understanding that they did not tolerate children who werent as well educated at school or had difficulties in learning. In another line that stood out to me ; " Youths forward slips Death soonest nips" the message that I was getting across while reading this was that children had to abide by strict rules that were enforced to them by their parents and school with this line acting as a warning to children.

In “Adams Fall We sinned All” next to each picture is each letter in the alphabet. This is used to help understand and describe the picture that is next to it and to help memorize the alphabet for children. The line that stood out to me most in this poem was “The idle Fool Is whipt at school”. That is what the letter F was standing for. To me this meant they didn’t stand for anything less. To me it is very normal for kids to make mistakes. That’s how they grow and learn in life. In “The mood shines bright in time of night” Even at your worst there will always be a time you can get through it.

Although majority of the letter rhymes in The New England Primer’s alphabet book are completely inappropriate for young children, the images next to each letter seem to help a little bit. The simplistic sketches associated with each letter’s rhyme, although still inappropriate in most cases, help to make the book more interesting and approachable to children. For example, the rhyme for the letter “c” is “The Cat doth play, And after slay.” The image next to it is a picture of a cat laying down and watching two mice run away from it. Even though the image combined with the rhyme is clearly showing a cat ready to kill the two mice, it brings a playful aspect to the harsh letter rhyme. Another example is the letter “g” with the rhyme “As runs the Glass, Man’s life doth pass.” The picture is a sketch of an hourglass with the sand falling through to the bottom and is surrounded by drawn back curtains. Even though the rhyme is saying that everybody is going to die, the simple image shows a recognizable hourglass which makes the alphabet book more approachable to children.

The Lamb, written by William Blake is a descriptive poem spoken by a child with a limited point of view. The poem describes the beauty of the lamb. It states, “Gave thee clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, making ask the values rejoice!” The child is giving a descriptive view of the lamb.The lines “Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?” is talking about how the child is questioning who made the lamb. I believe that the child is questioning not only who made the lamb but perhaps who made everything in this world.The lamb is a religious lamb of God. I believe the poem is coming from a limited point of view because the child is only talking about the good in this world created by God. There is both good and evil in this world but the child is still naive. The child is not aware about how the ancient jews would sacrifice the cleanest lamb with no blemishes to God. The child knows about only the good in the world therefore, the childs views are coming from a limited point of view.


The Wind, written by Christina Rossetti is a poem with an image of nature. The poem talks about who has seen the wind. It states, “Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you, But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through.” The poem is talking about how neither you, the reader, or herself has ever seen the wind but she has seen the effects of the wind. I think she is talking about how beautiful nature is. How one part of nature effects another part of nature and how beautiful and magical it is. In addition she states, “ Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I, But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.” We don’t see the wind but we can see the leaves moving in response to the wind. This poem made me think about how in life you don’t always have to see something to know that it is there. In addition it made me think about how you don’t have to see something to appreciate its beauty and all that it is capable of. In addition It made me think about how you don’t have to see something to feel it. In nature this can be about the wind, and in life, we don’t necessarily see love but we feel it with all our might.

"In Adam's Fall," it does not only help children learn their ABC's by having phases that represent each letter in the alphabet, but it also has picture to help the kids understand the meaning of the phrases a little better. Some of these phrases such as "Thy life to mend, This book attend." , " The Cat doth play, And after slay." and many more children at young ages won't understand those phrases at all. So the illustration helps a lot. The representation of the ABC's is not appropriate for young children and is also not written at an age level for young children. Some of the phrases were easily understood and very appropriate, but the rest was not and at that age it should be one consistent flow of appropriateness and easy understanding for the children. To me this alphabetic poem is easily for the adult audience.