Can you keep a secret? An artefact and exegetical essay investigating the poetics of children's rhymes and verse

This submission consists of two complementary creative works: an anthology of children's rhymes Can You Keep a Secret? Timeless Rhymes to Share and Treasure (Carthew 2008a); and a companion music CD, Timeless Songs to Share and Treasure (Carthew 2009). Random House Australia published both the anthology and the CD. The submission is accompanied by an exegesis that explores how these creative works came into being, and the attraction of the rhymes and songs that led to their selection. The exegesis also explores the resonance of these children‘s rhymes; and the poetic, musical and kinaesthetic features that led to their grouping in the six chapters—nursery rhymes, playtime rhymes, action rhymes, counting rhymes, finger-plays, and lullabies and gentle rhymes. The overarching genre of ‗nursery rhymes‘ is acknowledged as part of the oral tradition in literary lore and for the purposes of this exegesis are defined as rhymes for early childhood often, though not exclusively, characterised by a traditional or historical heritage. The selections, placement and musical arrangements in these collections provide a distinctive way of connecting with or being with these rhymes, therefore providing insight into their individual and collective aesthetic and poetic functioning.