{#npm16: 4-3, and now a word from mr. carroll}


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?

Indeed, one of the most famous of acrostic poets was Lewis Carroll; mathematician, logician, author, and poet.

Still she haunts me…

And now for less poetic musings: Whether history believes his preoccupation with one Alice Pleasance Liddell and her siblings was merely avuncular or something much more distasteful depends, it seems, on the times. The Guardian, the BBC, the Times of London and other newspapers have swayed back and forth in opinion pieces over the last fifteen years. American news outlets additionally clutched pearls over the question of whether or not the grinning Cheshire and its nonsense narrative was not some secret signal pointing to a demented drug-fest which would somehow be communicable through the pages. (Ban the book! WHO WILL SAVE THE CHILDREN???) So, the question revolves past for another year: Were Alice’s adventures just that – adventure? Or should wise booklovers put this one on a higher shelf? Do we judge books by their authors now? If so… we may have a very full top shelf, very soon…

I would have once said that a book is what you make of it — but I think a children’s book is what a child makes of it, in this case. If your little one isn’t bored by queens made out of playing cards, well, that’s just grand. For myself, I was never a nonsense child, and this, like Jabberwocky or The Wizard of Oz, or pretty much all of Edward Lear, didn’t quite do it for me. (Shh! I know. The shame!) As for Lewis himself… there are some people in this world who are sweet and strange — and some who are merely strange. Most are harmless. For that other small percent, I hope the Liddells taught their wee girls to speak softly and to carry a right big stick. And USE THAT THING.


4 Replies to “{#npm16: 4-3, and now a word from mr. carroll}”

  1. Oy. A rhyming acrostic. Beyond me for now, but maybe someday.

    And Alice never cut it for me, either. I gladly accepted Camazotz (the dark planet in A Wrinkle in Time), but had no patience for Wonderland.

  2. It makes me crazy how everyone has a personal AGENDA that’s used to measure literary merit. No matter how pure the intentions, no matter how good the writing, somebody somewhere out there will find something to criticize and complain about. Yikes for the personal attacks. People have also lost their sense of humor in some cases, taking offense at everything.

  3. Hadn’t seen this poem. Thanks for sharing.

    You bring up an interesting question. I do think we sometimes judge books by their authors these days, mainly because anything and everything is dissected and shared on the internet. If Carroll were alive and writing today, he would have been outed for any untoward strangeness with little girls. As it is, the reality remains a mystery and fodder for eternal debate. Carroll is somewhere up there grinning like the cheshire cat because he’ll always keep us guessing. I do give him chops for the mad tea party and those strawberry tarts. 🙂

    1. I often ask myself if ANYONE could be published now. Emily Dickenson probably would have her editor removing her dashes and asking if she really wanted to tackle sensitive subjects like religion… certainly no one would be reading Oscar Wilde! It was once a happy thing to be different and subversive, and once people could more clearly discern the line between dangerous and different. What does it take to keep our eyes clear, I wonder?

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