What Are Little Boys Made Of?

Boys are "snips and snails and puppy-dogs' tails," girls "sugar and spice and all things nice," a tidy bit of Victorian stereotyping usually credited to the poet Robert Southey. His original ran much longer, also handing out recipes for young men, old men, and old women.

Origins

The rhyme is widely attributed to the English poet Robert Southey (1774 to 1843), although he never formally claimed authorship of it. The earliest recorded versions date to around 1820, appearing in various local publications under titles like "What All the World Is Made Of".

In the original, much longer poem, Southey described the composition of many different groups of people, not just young children. For example, he wrote that young men were made of "sighs and leers and girls' tears," while young women consisted of "ribbons and laces and sweet pretty faces." Old men were said to be made of "collops and bones," and old women of "pins and needles and thread." Over time, these extra verses were dropped, leaving only the stanzas about boys and girls that remain famous today.

Meaning & Interpretation

The poem contrasts the traditional gender stereotypes of the Victorian era. While girls are associated with sweet and pleasing things like "sugar and spice," boys are linked to outdoor play and creatures like snails and puppy-dogs' tails.

The term "snips" in the first stanza has generated historical interest. In the oldest written accounts, the line was written as "snips or snigs." The word "snigs" is a Cumbrian dialect term for small freshwater eels, which fits the animal theme of the stanza. Over time, this was corrupted into the word "snips," which children and publishers interpreted as small scraps of paper or leather, or other odds and ends that a young boy might collect in his pockets.

Who wrote What Are Little Boys Made Of?

The authorship of the nursery rhyme is traditionally attributed to the English Poet Laureate Robert Southey, although no formal copyright or signature exists to prove it.

What does snips mean in the rhyme?

In early nineteenth-century versions, the word was written as "snigs," which is a regional Cumbrian dialect word for small eels. Over generations of oral retelling, the word evolved into "snips," which children understood as scraps of material or paper.