<Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Sarah Josepha Hale, John Roulstone </Td> </Tr> <P> "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of the early nineteenth - century American origin . It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622 . </P> <P> The nursery rhyme was first published by the Boston publishing firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon, as a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was possibly inspired by an actual incident . </P> <P> There are competing theories on the origin and inspiration of this poem . One holds that John Roulstone wrote the first four lines and that the final twelve lines, less childlike than the first, were composed by Sarah Josepha Hale; others claim that Hale was responsible for the entire poem . </P>

Who wrote the poem mary had a little lamb