Life — October 19, 1905 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Old Mother Hubbard This page presents multiple literary interpretations of the nursery rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard," presented as satirical poetry by various authors including Moses, Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, John Milton, and William Shakespeare (clearly tongue-in-cheek attributions). The accompanying illustration shows Mother Hubbard at her cupboard with a dog, directly referencing the nursery rhyme's familiar plot: she went to the cupboard to get the poor dog a bone, but the cupboard was bare. Rather than mocking specific political figures, this page satirizes literary pretension by having famous historical poets grandly rewrite a simple children's verse in their distinctive styles—a humorous commentary on how serious literature often overwrites simple truths with elaborate language.