No.13

LEWIS CARROLL
(Charles Lutwidge Dodgson 1832-1898)

mathematician, writer of children’s books and pioneer of portrait photography

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Born in Cheshire, England, he became a lecturer in maths in Oxford and was the author of many books on that subject.

However it was as a writer of children’s stories that he became famous. Using the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, he produced “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the sequel “Through the Looking-Glass,” books which have enthralled children (and some adults) ever since.

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Here is an extract from “Through the Looking-Glass.”

“O Tiger-lily,” said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, “I WISH you could talk!”

“We CAN talk,” said the Tiger-lily, “when there's anybody worth talking to.”

Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: it quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice, almost in a whisper. “'And can ALL the flowers talk?”

“As well as YOU can,“ said the Tiger-lily. “And a great deal louder.”

“It isn't manners for us to begin, you know,” said the Rose, “and I really was wondering when you'd speak! Said I to myself - her face has got SOME sense in it, though it's not a clever one! Still, you're the right colour, and that goes a long way.”

“I don't care about the colour,” the Tiger-lily remarked. “If only her petals curled up a little more, she'd be all right.”

Alice didn't like being criticised, so she began asking questions. “Aren't you sometimes frightened at being planted out here, with nobody to take care of you?”

“There's the tree in the middle,” said the Rose, “what else is it good for?”

“But what could it do, if any danger came?” Alice asked.

“It says Bough-wough!" cried a Daisy. “That's why its branches are called boughs!”

“Didn't you know THAT?” cried another Daisy, and here they all began shouting together, till the air seemed quite full of little shrill voices.

“Silence, every one of you!” cried the Tiger-lily, waving itself passionately from side to side, and trembling with excitement. “They know I can't get at them!” it panted, bending its quivering head towards Alice, “or they wouldn't dare to do it!”

“Never mind!” Alice said in a soothing tone, and stooping down to the daisies, who were just beginning again, she whispered, “If you don't hold your tongues, I'll pick you!”

There was silence in a moment, and several of the pink daisies turned white.

“That's right!” said the Tiger-lily. “The daisies are worst of all. When one speaks, they all begin together, and it's enough to make one wither to hear the way they go on!”

“How is it you can all talk so nicely?” Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. “I've been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.”

“Put your hand down, and feel the ground,” said the Tiger-lily. “Then you'll know why.”

Alice did so. “It's very hard,” she said, “but I don't see what that has to do with it.”

“In most gardens,” the Tiger-lily said, “they make the beds too soft so that the flowers are always asleep.”

This sounded a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it. “I never thought of that before!” she said.

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From “Alice in Wonderland,” this is illustration of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party by Sir John Tenniel 1820-1914, who did all the drawings for both “Alice” and “Through the Looking-Glass.” He was well-known for his cartoons and caricatures in “Punch.”

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Lewis Carroll wrote a number of nonsense poems and these included “The Hunting of the Snark” and “Jabberwocky.” “You are old, Father William” comes from “Alice in Wonderland.”

"You are old, father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

"In my youth," father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
Pray what is the reason for that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment -- one shilling a box --
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose --
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs.”

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It’s interesting to find that the above is in fact a parody of a poem written by one of the English “Lake Poets” Robert Southey 1774-1843, and you can find it at the end of this blog.

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This is the original “Alice” - Alice Liddell, whose father was the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. Lewis Carroll had been in the habit of telling stories to Alice and two of her friends, and so the crazy worlds of Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were born.

He took many photographs of Alice. This one was taken in 1860.

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Here is one of his sayings:

“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”

And so I’m taking his advice!

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THE OLD MAN’S COMFORTS AND HOW HE GAINED THEM,
by Robert Southey

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,
"The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, father William, a hearty old man;
Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"In the days of my youth," father William replied,
"I remembered that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last."

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,
"And pleasures with youth pass away.
And yet you lament not the days that are gone;
Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"In the days of my youth," father William replied,
"I remembered that youth could not last;
I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past."

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,
"And life must be hastening away;
You are cheerful and love to converse upon death;
Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"I am cheerful, young man," father William replied,
"Let the cause thy attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remembered my God!
And He hath not forgotten my age."

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