London, July 23: Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill can breathe a little more easily. They are unlikely to be consigned to history if modern offerings are anything to go by.

More than 6,000 nursery rhymers responded to a challenge by Nick Jnr, the pre-school satellite television channel, to write a rhyme for the 21st century. But Michael Rosen, the children’s poet and senior judge of the competition, said: “There were a handful of really quite good ones, the ones we have shortlisted. After that they rather tailed off.”

The 10-strong shortlist indicates that the twin ills of pollution and modern technology were favoured topics. But the entrants wrote rhymes on almost every recent subject.

“There was almost nothing we didn’t get rhymes about ? from iPods to David Beckham and Britney Spears’ failed marriage,” said a spokesman for the competition.

Rosen, who shared judging duties with Lorraine Kelly, the GMTV presenter, said: “We were very impressed by a few of the entries but I think some people hadn’t understood what nursery rhymes do and so they wrote funny poems which is not the same thing. Some were too complicated and the metrical line was too long. “Will any of these rhymes be around in 100 years’ time? I don’t know. One or two might. I particularly liked the one about the sick computer. It’s good. It’s got all the elements and it’s absurd. My feeling is the nursery rhymes that are going to last from this generation are two Beatles’ songs, When I’m 64 and Yellow Submarine.”

He said that nursery rhymes were not easy to write: “It’s difficult. They are anything but twee and have bold earthy subjects. People’s heads fall off, animals drown and children are beaten. It’s so surreal.”

Many traditional rhymes are uncompromising, nasty moral tales containing survivals of folklore, ancient superstition and local customs but attempts to trace their origins have proved fruitless. The search for hidden meanings has, for example, assumed that Ring-A-Ring ’Roses originated in the Great Plague of London. Research has shown, though, that it was sung long before 1665.

Jack and Jill has been claimed to refer to the beheading of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Three Blind Mice is said to refer to three Protestant noblemen convicted of plotting against Mary Tudor.