A Ring Upon Her Finger Lyrics
A bride walks beside the bridegroom. She wears a ring on her finger and a veil on her forehead, and the poem tells the crowd to fling flowers beneath her footsteps and the bridegroom's.
A Ring Upon Her Finger
A ring upon her finger,
Walks the bride,
With the bridegroom tall and handsome
At her side.
A veil upon her forehead,
Walks the bride,
With the bridegroom proud and merry
At her side.
Fling flowers beneath the footsteps
Of the bride;
Fling flowers before the bridegroom
At her side.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-ring-upon-her-finger/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Christina Rossetti
- Tune
- Stately and slow, like a procession
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| A ring upon her finger | Hold up one hand and point to a finger where a ring would go. |
| Fling flowers beneath the footsteps | Pretend to scatter flowers gently on the floor. |
| Walks the bride | March slowly on the spot, one step to each beat. |
What Does A Ring Upon Her Finger Mean?
A wedding is told in three small pictures. The first verse gives the bride a ring on her finger and the bridegroom, the man she is marrying, is "tall and handsome" at her side. In the second she wears a veil, a thin cloth over the head, and he is "proud and merry". In the third the poem turns to the guests with an order: "Fling flowers beneath the footsteps / Of the bride." Scattering flowers in front of a bride is an old wedding custom.
Each verse repeats the lines Walks the bride and At her side, so the whole poem has the steady beat of a slow walk. Because the lines repeat, a child can join in after hearing it once.
History and Origin
Christina Rossetti, the English poet, published Sing-Song in 1872, her book of verses for young children. The poem is built from three small pictures, and each picture is one verse.
Learning Activities
- Wedding march: line children up two by two and walk slowly down a room as someone reads, with paper petals to scatter.
- Dress-up: use a scarf for the veil and a paper ring, and act out the three verses in order.
- Petal path: collect fallen flower petals or cut paper ones, and make a path from the door to a chair.
- Wedding talk: if the child has been to a wedding, talk about what the bride wore.