Tag Archives: Lewis Carroll

“The Mad Gardener’s Song” by Lewis Carroll [w/ Audio]

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He thought he saw an Elephant,
   That practised on a fife:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A letter from his wife.
 "At length I realize," he said,
   "The bitterness of Life!"

He thought he saw a Buffalo
   Upon the chimney-piece:
 He looked again, and found it was
   His Sister's Husband's Niece,
 "Unless you leave this house," he said,
    "I'll send for the Police!" 

He thought he saw a Rattlesnake
   That questioned him in Greek:
 He looked again, and found it was
   The Middle of Next Week.
 "The one thing I regret," he said,
   "Is that it cannot speak!" 

He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk
   Descending from the 'bus:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A Hippopotamus.
 "If this should stay to dine," he said,
   "There won't be much for us!"

He thought he saw a Kangaroo
   That worked a coffee-mill:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A Vegetable-Pill.
 "Were I to swallow this," he said,
   "I should be very ill!"

He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four
   That stood beside his bed:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A Bear without a Head.
 "Poor thing," he said, "poor silly thing!
   It's waiting to be fed!"

He thought he saw an Albatross
   That fluttered round the lamp:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A Penny-Postage-Stamp.
 "You'd best be getting home," he said,
   "The nights are very damp!"

He thought he saw a Garden-Door
   That opened with a key:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A Double Rule of Three:
 "And all its mystery," he said,
   "Is clear as day to me!"

He thought he saw an Argument
   That proved he was the Pope:
 He looked again, and found it was
   A Bar of Mottled Soap.
 "A fact so dread," he faintly said,
   "Extinguishes all hope!"

“Dreamland” by Lewis Carroll [w/ Audio]

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When midnight mists are creeping,
   And all the land is sleeping,
 Around me tread the mighty dead,
   And slowly pass away.

Lo, warriors, saints, and sages,
   From out the vanished ages,
 With solemn pace and reverend face
   Appear and pass away.

The blaze of noonday splendour,
   The twilight soft and tender,
 May charm the eye: yet they shall die,
   Shall die and pass away.

But here, in Dreamland's centre,
   No spoiler's hand may enter,
 These visions fair, this radiance rare,
   Shall never pass away.

I see the shadows falling,
   The forms of old recalling;
 Around me tread the mighty dead,
   And slowly pass away.

“A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll [w/ Audio]

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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?

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll [w/ Audio]

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'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
   Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
 All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
   The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
 Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
    The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
   Long time the manxome foe he sought --
 So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
    And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
   The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
 Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
    And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
   The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
 He left it dead, and with its head
    He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
   Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
 O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
    He chortled in his joy. 

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
   Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

5 of My Favorite Trippy, Mind-bending Books

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I love books that send one down the rabbit hole. Here are a few of my favorites. [Note: as I was putting this post together, I realized that I’d left out Philip K. Dick entirely. That is a glaring oversight as almost any of his books could make this list, but I’m too lazy to make a bigger list right now, so you’ll have to wait for Part II.]

 

5.) The Unlimited Dream Company by J.G. Ballard: A man crashes a small aircraft into the Thames, and after struggling up from the wreckage he discovers he can’t leave the town of Shepperton — though he can do just about anything else he likes.

 

4.) The Lathe of Heaven by Ursala K. Le Guin: George Orr believes his dreams shape reality. At first, he’s taken for a crazy man, but then his therapist begins to wonder.

 

3.) Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami: A man hired for his skill at using his mind as an unbreakable encryption device, finds out that the job that seemed too good to be true, was.

 

2.) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: The devil comes to Moscow with his  rogue’s gallery, throws the city into disarray, and it’s all tied to a novel based on the life of Pontius Pilate.

 

1.) Alice in Wonderland  & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll: Tumbling down a rabbit hole or walking through a mirror, Alice is transported to a whimsical land where everything is strange and exhilarating.

Let me know of any oversights [besides the aforementioned PKD.]

BOOK REVIEW: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-GlassAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon page

 

These are two separate children’s books, but the edition I read is one of several in which they are bundled together. Besides the fact that each is only a little over 100 pages, they are conveniently bundled because they share the same lead character, Alice, and take place in similar (arguably the same) alternate realities: Wonderland and the Looking-Glass World. These are worlds in which strange events are common place and there’s little compulsion to behave logically– worlds in which imagination rules and reality only provides a subconscious shaping of events.

In the former book, Alice enters the alternate world by tumbling down the rabbit hole and in the later she does so by stepping through a mirror (i.e. a looking-glass.) Each of these books follows Alice from her entry into the alternate reality, through a series of adventures, and then back to the real world.

Not much of a review is necessary because even though—given you are reading a review—you probably haven’t read the books yet, you will be familiar with many of the characters and references from widespread appearance in pop culture. I already mentioned the tumble down the rabbit hole, as does Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) in “The Matrix.” That movie also references chasing the white rabbit, as does a famous song by Grace Slick. You’ve also probably seen or heard references to the grin of the Cheshire Cat and the frenetic behavior of the Mad Hatter. “Through the Looking-Glass” features several well-known characters from English nursery rhymes (e.g. Tweedledee & Tweedledum as well as Humpty Dumpty.)

It’s also not so important to get into plot because the stories are purposefully chaotic and exist in a world of loose logic. The strings of causality are not so strong, but it’s on purpose. It’s supposed to be a strange and surreal world, and it achieves great success in this regard. Events don’t have to make sense; they just have to be imaginable. This doesn’t mean that there is no flow or transitions between the adventures in these books. There is. It’s more easily recognized in “Through the Looking-Glass” in which a game of chess provides an underlying structure for the unfolding of events.

I’d recommend everybody read these books. While I referred to them as “children’s books,” I also agree with Neil Gaiman’s point that that is a nonsense term. So one shouldn’t think one missed the boat and there is no going back.

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