The Wonderful World of Lewis

Carroll. Poet Showcase By Emily Rach

Getting to know Mr. Carroll. He was the eldest son and third child in a

family of four boys and seven girls.

His real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Lewis Carroll came from Latinising his first two names, and then Anglicising them.

Lutwidge = Ludovic = Lewis Charles = Carolus = Carroll 

His mother was Frances Jane Lutwidge and his father the Rev. Charles Dodgson.

Born in Daresbury, Cheshire on January 27, 1832 and passed away on January 14, 1898 at the age of 65.

Lewis and his family lived on a small, far off, isolated island that resembled a country-village kind of setting.

English logician, mathematician, photographer, artist, poet, and a novelist, best known for his novel Alice in Wonderland.

His family had few friends outside the home, but kept themselves involved in each others lives.

Lewis himself liked to make up games for the family to play.

Lewis endured many illnesses and viruses, which in the long run left him deaf in one ear.

Attended Richmond School, in Yorkshire,1844-1845 for a year and Rugby school from 1846-1850 for four years. Surprisingly enough his best subject was math, even though english was his passion.

In the area Lewis grew up in there wasn’t much to do. Everyday was relatively relaxing and so his form of poetry was inspired by imagination and fantasy. This likely came from the fact of him trying to make life more exciting living on the island.

Lewis Carroll's life connection throughout his poetry is influenced strongly by the time period that he grew up in. He walked in his own direction and was unique, which was exactly what he strived for.

His works were also influenced by his Victorian lifestyle and neglected childhood. It would almost seem as if Lewis often dreamt of getting away from reality and creating his own world with selectively filtered people and things from his everyday life.

His writing broke the ice with uniqueness during the time period he lived in. His relaxed, humorous tone, depth of characters and the focus of them finding or having an interaction with a special, magnificent item, kept readers interested and visioning.

His readers were intrigued in the witty, clever, and symbolic social commentary that he supplied from his point of view in life.

By far the biggest inspiration of his works was a little girl, a close friend, named Alice Pleasance Leddell, which not only inspired him to write many poems, but also inspired him to write the book Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Best Works of CarrollThe Walrus and the Carpenter

The Jabberwocky

A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky

The Walrus & the Carpenterhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N

ql1_RKwQt0

The Jabberwocky

A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky BY LEWIS CARROLL 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?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGB4TQGNFKc

A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky

Analysis

If you look at the first letter starting each line, they spell out Alice Pleasance Liddell - the little girl who had the greatest inspiration on Lewis for his writing. He saw her as a fantasy character, which helped him make this fantasy world he wrote about seem like reality.

The poem was written in 1872.

The speaker throughout the poem is Lewis Carroll himself. He is depicting a story to three children, Alice and her two sisters.

The Setting of the poem is on an evening in July, outdoors on a boat, relaxingly drifting away.

This piece reminds us that as children grow up, they lose their innocence and are no longer able to dream and imagine as carelessly as they were able to when they were young.

The first, second, and fifth stanza have an enthusiastic tone showing affection. The third and fourth stanza are more monotone and depict a much darker, gloomy picture. To finish, the last two stanzas are enthusiastic.

First stanza - explains the setting and main action of poem (of Lewis is taking Alice and her two sisters on a boat ride).

Second stanza - depicts the children awaiting the story that Lewis is about to tell.

Third stanza- is discussing how people change overtime, age, and lose their innocence. Things are never the same once time passes.

Fourth stanza - Lewis is talking about how Alice haunts him and is everywhere in his mind.

Fifth stanza - is returning to the scene of the children eagerly waiting to hear his story.

Sixth and seventh stanza - the poem explains how children have the carelessness to dream and let their imagination take over, which is often hard to do once you’ve grown up. This is where the main idea of the poem comes across - the loss of innocence.

The use of the word phantomwise explains Alice as a ghost or phantom that’s haunting Lewis.

“Summer’s die” is an example of personification

In the second and fifth stanza there is repetition found between “children” having an “eager eye and willing ear.”

There is alliteration in “sunny sky”, “nestle near”, and “golden gleam”.

Metonymy can be seen in “eager eye and willing ear”.

The last line contains a metaphor comparing life to a dream.

“Long has paled that sunny sky; Echoes fade and memories die; Autumn frosts have slain July”

This verse of the poem gives an image of loss of innocence and death by describing the sudden change of seasons – particularly the contrast between July (warm, vibrant, representing full imagination) and Autumn (cold, onset of winter, representing the forced maturity of adulthood).

Aside from the first verse of the poem, the rhyme scheme is aaa, bbb, aaa.

The irony in this poem is that Lewis Carroll has grown old and still has a better imagination than kids who have grown up.

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter.

This is one of Lewis Carroll’s best poems. It describes the relationship between growing up and the loss of innocence, which separates imagination and reality. It remarks on the sadness of the loss that occurs in the transition from childhood to adulthood.

This is something we can see daily in our lives and the lives of those around us. I think this poem serves the excellent purpose of depicting to, and reminding us of, the loss of innocence and the value of a healthy imagination, so that we may hopefully not undergo a complete loss of that skill.