Post by Admin on Jul 19, 2021 6:51:17 GMT -7
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lewis-carroll
Self-effacing, yet having an expressive critical ability; reveling in the possibilities of fancy, though thoroughly at home with the sophisticated nuances of logic and mathematics, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was an individual who, through his rare and diversified literary gifts and power of communication, left an indelible mark upon the imaginations of children and adults both during his generation and in generations to come. His best-known works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There (1872) are still enjoyed by readers throughout the world and have been adapted for radio, television, and motion pictures.
Born in the small parish of Daresbury on January 27, 1832, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his pseudonym, Lewis Carroll) was the son of Charles Dodgson, archdeacon, and Frances Jane Lutwidge. The third of 11 children, Dodgson’s secluded, quiet, and protected early childhood stands in ironic contrast to the impact he was to have on the world of Victorian children’s literature. In The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (1898), Carroll’s nephew Stuart Dodgson Collingwood wrote that his uncle “invented the strangest diversions for himself ... made pets of the most odd and unlikely animals, and numbered certain snails and toads among his intimate friends.”
Nurtured by a loving mother and father, Dodgson began writing at an early age. While at the Richmond School in 1845, Dodgson composed Useful and Instructive Poetry, his first family magazine, for the edification of his seven-year-old brother, Wilfred Longley Dodgson, and his five-year-old sister, Louisa Fletcher Dodgson; this book was finally published over 100 years later, in 1954. Of his writing in general, Mr. Tate, his instructor, was later to comment that the younger Dodgson was given toward some “creativity in replacing the inflexions of nouns and verbs, as detailed in our grammars,” a fault which Dr. Tate reassured the elder Dodgson his son would most likely outgrow.
The poem “My Fairy” in Useful and Instructive Poetry seems to reflect some of the frustrations Dodgson may have experienced over one issue or another. The fairy persona takes on the aspect of a censoring adult who attempts to interfere with Charles no matter which way he turns. Finally, in dismay, the voice of youth cries out against the restrictive adult persona in the last verse:
“What may I do?” at length I cried,
Tired of the painful task.
The fairy quietly replied,
And said, “You must not ask.”
“Rules and Regulations,” in addition to commenting upon correctness in writing, also contains remonstrations. It refers to the problem of stammering, which plagued Dodgson throughout his life, emphasizing his shyness and becoming a major factor when he considered acceptance of any public-speaking engagements:
Learn well your grammar,
And never stammar,
Write well and neatly,
And sing most sweetly,
Be enterprising,
Love early rising,
Go walk six miles,
Have ready smiles,
With lightsome laughter,
Soft flowing after.
Indeed, the passage might well be taken as Victorian commentary on the expectations of childhood.
According to Carroll’s preface to his family magazine Mischmasch (published together with The Rectory Umbrella, 1932), “The Rectory Magazine,” which made its first appearance possibly around 1847, caused so much excitement in his household that most of his family members were sufficiently motivated to contribute to it. Of the dating of the magazine, biographer Anne Clark suggests that, “the real clue to the year of initiation may lie in Charles’ use of pseudonymous initials VX for his serial ‘Sidney Hamilton.’ Reversal of initials was a frequent device of his, and if the magazine dated from 1847, his age expressed in Latin would have been XV. The state of maturity of the contents is consistent with this dating.” Useful and Instructive Poetry and “The Rectory Magazine” were followed by other youthful magazines such as “The Comet” in 1848 and later “The Rosebud,” “The Star,” and “The Will-o’ The Wisp.” Carroll indicates in his preface to Mischmasch that the quality of these endeavors was poor and apparently generated little interest.
In 1846, at the age of 14, Dodgson was sent to Rugby. When he left the school in December 1849, it could well be said that he had satisfied the academic hopes his family had for him. In May 1850 he matriculated at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and thus embarked upon an association that lasted until his death. Clark tells of the regimented environment in force at Oxford that strictly controlled thought and dress. Despite such strictures Dodgson seemed able to conform to the degree required for that margin of “academic safety,” though, as Clark points out, “The many absurdities in the Oxford University Statutes were not lost on a humorist of Charles Dodgson’s calibre.” Indeed, such references were to find their way into his epic The Hunting of the Snark (1876) later on.
From 1849 to 1853 Dodgson produced The Rectory Umbrella, eight manuscript magazines, of which four are extant. The manuscripts display an amazing degree of versatility and attest to his ease and familiarity with nursery rhymes, classical poets, and William Shakespeare. Dodgson displayed a talent for writing engaging prose as well as verse. Detail, remarkable for its inclusion in an informal family magazine, is evident in such practices as the use of footnotes both as commentary on the action and as a scholarly apparatus.
That Dodgson had a sensitivity for animals is seen in such pieces as “Moans from the Miserable, or The Wretch’s Wail,” written from the point of view of rabbits who publicize their dismay and anger at being carried around by their ears. Later, his concerns would take a much more serious turn, as indicated in his essays on vivisection, “Vivisection as a Sign of the Times” and “Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,” first printed in the Pall Mall Gazette (February 12, 1875) and Fortnightly Review (June 1, 1875), and later published in Collingwood’s biography The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll and Alexander Woollcott’s The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (1936).
Fancy was a strong element of the pieces appearing in
Born in the small parish of Daresbury on January 27, 1832, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known by his pseudonym, Lewis Carroll) was the son of Charles Dodgson, archdeacon, and Frances Jane Lutwidge. The third of 11 children, Dodgson’s secluded, quiet, and protected early childhood stands in ironic contrast to the impact he was to have on the world of Victorian children’s literature. In The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (1898), Carroll’s nephew Stuart Dodgson Collingwood wrote that his uncle “invented the strangest diversions for himself ... made pets of the most odd and unlikely animals, and numbered certain snails and toads among his intimate friends.”
Nurtured by a loving mother and father, Dodgson began writing at an early age. While at the Richmond School in 1845, Dodgson composed Useful and Instructive Poetry, his first family magazine, for the edification of his seven-year-old brother, Wilfred Longley Dodgson, and his five-year-old sister, Louisa Fletcher Dodgson; this book was finally published over 100 years later, in 1954. Of his writing in general, Mr. Tate, his instructor, was later to comment that the younger Dodgson was given toward some “creativity in replacing the inflexions of nouns and verbs, as detailed in our grammars,” a fault which Dr. Tate reassured the elder Dodgson his son would most likely outgrow.
The poem “My Fairy” in Useful and Instructive Poetry seems to reflect some of the frustrations Dodgson may have experienced over one issue or another. The fairy persona takes on the aspect of a censoring adult who attempts to interfere with Charles no matter which way he turns. Finally, in dismay, the voice of youth cries out against the restrictive adult persona in the last verse:
“What may I do?” at length I cried,
Tired of the painful task.
The fairy quietly replied,
And said, “You must not ask.”
“Rules and Regulations,” in addition to commenting upon correctness in writing, also contains remonstrations. It refers to the problem of stammering, which plagued Dodgson throughout his life, emphasizing his shyness and becoming a major factor when he considered acceptance of any public-speaking engagements:
Learn well your grammar,
And never stammar,
Write well and neatly,
And sing most sweetly,
Be enterprising,
Love early rising,
Go walk six miles,
Have ready smiles,
With lightsome laughter,
Soft flowing after.
Indeed, the passage might well be taken as Victorian commentary on the expectations of childhood.
According to Carroll’s preface to his family magazine Mischmasch (published together with The Rectory Umbrella, 1932), “The Rectory Magazine,” which made its first appearance possibly around 1847, caused so much excitement in his household that most of his family members were sufficiently motivated to contribute to it. Of the dating of the magazine, biographer Anne Clark suggests that, “the real clue to the year of initiation may lie in Charles’ use of pseudonymous initials VX for his serial ‘Sidney Hamilton.’ Reversal of initials was a frequent device of his, and if the magazine dated from 1847, his age expressed in Latin would have been XV. The state of maturity of the contents is consistent with this dating.” Useful and Instructive Poetry and “The Rectory Magazine” were followed by other youthful magazines such as “The Comet” in 1848 and later “The Rosebud,” “The Star,” and “The Will-o’ The Wisp.” Carroll indicates in his preface to Mischmasch that the quality of these endeavors was poor and apparently generated little interest.
In 1846, at the age of 14, Dodgson was sent to Rugby. When he left the school in December 1849, it could well be said that he had satisfied the academic hopes his family had for him. In May 1850 he matriculated at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and thus embarked upon an association that lasted until his death. Clark tells of the regimented environment in force at Oxford that strictly controlled thought and dress. Despite such strictures Dodgson seemed able to conform to the degree required for that margin of “academic safety,” though, as Clark points out, “The many absurdities in the Oxford University Statutes were not lost on a humorist of Charles Dodgson’s calibre.” Indeed, such references were to find their way into his epic The Hunting of the Snark (1876) later on.
From 1849 to 1853 Dodgson produced The Rectory Umbrella, eight manuscript magazines, of which four are extant. The manuscripts display an amazing degree of versatility and attest to his ease and familiarity with nursery rhymes, classical poets, and William Shakespeare. Dodgson displayed a talent for writing engaging prose as well as verse. Detail, remarkable for its inclusion in an informal family magazine, is evident in such practices as the use of footnotes both as commentary on the action and as a scholarly apparatus.
That Dodgson had a sensitivity for animals is seen in such pieces as “Moans from the Miserable, or The Wretch’s Wail,” written from the point of view of rabbits who publicize their dismay and anger at being carried around by their ears. Later, his concerns would take a much more serious turn, as indicated in his essays on vivisection, “Vivisection as a Sign of the Times” and “Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection,” first printed in the Pall Mall Gazette (February 12, 1875) and Fortnightly Review (June 1, 1875), and later published in Collingwood’s biography The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll and Alexander Woollcott’s The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (1936).
Fancy was a strong element of the pieces appearing in