CarlosAlberto, I
loathe the "sweet, fun-loving nanny" reputation Mary Poppins has. I've even heard people argue that Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp are interchangeable so it wasn't much of a stretch for Julie. I tell them, "Watch both movies back to back, then get back to me." The point is, Poppins and Maria are almost polar opposites: Maria is more the sweet, fun-loving type, whereas Mary is strict, a bit of a killjoy, and (dare I say it?) somewhat bitchy. She certainly has her tender moments, but they're few and far between -- and that dichotomy is what makes her fascinating!
Still she's always referenced in popular culture as a sickly sweet individual. She's like Uncle Tom, who's wrongly remembered as excessively subservient to white people, but in the book he's more of a martyr, Christlike figure who is beaten to death by his master when he refuses to betray the whereabouts of two runaway female slaves. I read that the popular negative connotation of Uncle Tom was a result of of other works based on the novel (i.e. plays) which lampooned and distorted the character.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia