Lewis Carroll

cantfindit

Renowned Victorian author Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, England. From a very early age he entertained himself and his family by performing magic tricks and marionette shows, and by writing poetry for his homemade newspapers. In 1846 he entered Rugby School, and in 1854 he graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford. He was successful in his study of mathematics and writing, and remained at the college after graduation to teach. Many of Carroll's philosophies were based on games. His interest in logic came purely from the playful nature of its principle rather than its uses as a tool. He primarily wrote comic fantasies and humorous verse that was often very childlike. Carroll published his novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, followed by Through the Looking Glass in 1872. Alice's story began as a piece of extemporaneous whimsy meant to entertain three little girls on a boating trip in 1862. Both of these works were considered children's novels that were satirical in nature and in exemplification of Carroll's wit. Also famous is Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky," in which he created nonsensical words from word combinations. Carroll died in Guildford, Surrey, on January 14, 1898. Source

A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky

A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July—

 

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear—

 

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.

 

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

 

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

 

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:


Ever drifting down the stream—
Lingering in the golden gleam—
Life, what is it but a dream?

Published:

None

Length:

Regular

Literary Movements:

Children's

Romanticism

Anthology Years:

2024

Themes:

Memory & The Past

Literary Devices:

Allusion

an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

End Rhyme

when a poem has lines ending with words that sound the same

Rhetorical Question

a question asked for effect, not necessarily to be answered

Tercet

A stanza of three lines of verse that rhyme together or are connected by rhyme with an adjacent stanza.