← Rhyme? and reason? details

Rhyme? and reason?

by Lewis Carroll

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RHYME?AND REASON?

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“UPON A BATTLEMENT.â€Â [See p. 30.

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RHYME?AND REASON?

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BY

LEWIS CARROLL

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WITH SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONSBYARTHUR B. FROST AND NINEBYHENRY HOLIDAY

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I have had nor rhyme nor reason

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PRICE SEVEN SHILLINGSLondon MACMILLAN AND CO.1883[All Rights Reserved]

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London:R. Clay, Sons, and TaylorBREAD STREET HILL, E.C.

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Inscribed to a dear Child: in memory of golden summer hours and whispers of a summer sea.

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[Of the following poems, Echoes, A Game of Fives, the last three of the Four Riddles, and Fame’s Penny-Trumpet, are here published for the first time. The others have all appeared before, as have also the illustrations to The Hunting of the Snark.]

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CONTENTS.

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PHANTASMAGORIA.

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CANTO I.

The Trystyng.

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“IN CAVERNS BY THE WATER-SIDEâ€

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CANTO II.

Hys Fyve Rules.

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“AND SWING YOURSELF FROM SIDE TO SIDEâ€

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CANTO III.

Scarmoges.

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“AND HERE IT TOOK THE FORM OF THIRSTâ€

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CANTO IV.

Hys Nouryture.

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CANTO V.

Byckerment.

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“HE GOES ABOUT AND SITS ON FOLKâ€

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CANTO VI.

Dyscomfyture.

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“SCORCHED BOTH HIS SLIPPERS OFF HIS FEETâ€

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CANTO VII.

Sad Souvenaunce.

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“AND TIBBS WILL HAVE THE BEST OF ITâ€

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ECHOES.

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A SEA DIRGE.

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“AND THIS WAS BY THE SEAâ€

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Ye Carpette Knyghte.

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“I HAVE A HORSEâ€

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HIAWATHA’S PHOTOGRAPHING.

[In an age of imitation, I can claim no special merit for this slight attempt at doing what is known to be so easy. Any fairly practised writer, with the slightest ear for rhythm, could compose, for hours together, in the easy running metre of ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ Having, then, distinctly stated that I challenge no attention in the following little poem to its merely verbal jingle, I must beg the candid reader to confine his criticism to its treatment of the subject.]

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“FIRST THE GOVERNOR, THE FATHERâ€

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“NEXT THE SON, THE STUNNING-CANTABâ€

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“NEXT TO HIM THE ELDEST DAUGHTERâ€

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“LAST, THE YOUNGEST SON WAS TAKENâ€

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MELANCHOLETTA.

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“AT NIGHT SHE SIGHEDâ€

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A VALENTINE.

[Sent to a friend who had complained that I was glad enough to see him when he came, but didn’t seem to miss him if he stayed away.]

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THE THREE VOICES.

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The First Voice.

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“UNERRINGLY SHE PINNED IT DOWN.â€

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“HE FALTERED ‘GIFTS MAY PASS AWAY.’â€

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“THIS IS HARDER THAN BEZIQUE!â€

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The Second Voice.

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“HE SPAKE, NEGLECTING SOUND AND SENSE.â€

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“SHALL MAN BE MAN?â€

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“HE SAT AND WATCHED THE COMING TIDEâ€

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The Third Voice.

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“HE GROANED AGHASTâ€

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“TORTURED, UNAIDED, AND ALONEâ€

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“A SCARED DULLARD, GIBBERING LOWâ€

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TÈMA CON VARIAZIÓNI.

[Why is it that Poetry has never yet been subjected to that process of Dilution which has proved so advantageous to her sister-art Music? The Diluter gives us first a few notes of some well-known Air, then a dozen bars of his own, then a few more notes of the Air, and so on alternately: thus saving the listener, if not from all risk of recognising the melody at all, at least from the too-exciting transports which it might produce in a more concentrated form. The process is termed “setting†by Composers, and any one, that has ever experienced the emotion of being unexpectedly set down in a heap of mortar, will recognise the truthfulness of this happy phrase.

For truly, just as the genuine Epicure lingers lovingly over a morsel of supreme Venison—whose every fibre seems to murmur “Excelsior!â€â€”yet swallows, ere returning to the toothsome dainty, great mouthfuls of oatmeal-porridge and winkles: and just as the perfect Connoisseur in Claret permits himself but one delicate sip, and then tosses off a pint or more of boarding-school beer: so also——

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A GAME OF FIVES.

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“NOW TELL ME WHICH YOU MEAN!â€

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POETA FIT, NON NASCITUR.

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“THE WILD MAN WENT HIS WEARY WAYâ€

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THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK,

An Agony in Eight Fits.

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PREFACE.

If—and the thing is wildly possible—the charge of writing nonsense were ever brought against the author of this brief but instructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line (in p. 144)

“Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes:â€

In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appeal indignantly to my other writings as a proof that I am incapable of such a deed: I will not (as I might) point to the strong moral purpose of this poem itself, to the arithmetical principles so cautiously inculcated in it, or to its noble teachings in Natural History—I will take the more prosaic course of simply explaining how it happened.

The Bellman, who was almost morbidly sensitive about appearances, used to have the bowsprit unshipped once or twice a week to be revarnished; and it more than once happened, when the time came for replacing it, that no one on board could remember which end of the ship it belonged to. They knew it was not of the slightest use to appeal to the Bellman about it—he would only refer to his Naval Code, and read out in pathetic tones Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to understand—so it generally ended in its being fastened on, anyhow, across the rudder. The helmsman[1] used to stand by with tears in his eyes: he knew it was all wrong, but alas! Rule 42 of the Code, “No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm,†had been completed by the Bellman himself with the words “and the Man at the Helm shall speak to no one.†So remonstrance was impossible, and no steering could be done till the next varnishing day. During these bewildering intervals the ship usually sailed backwards.

As this poem is to some extent connected with the lay of the Jabberwock, let me take this opportunity of answering a question that has often been asked me, how to pronounce “slithy toves.†The “i†in “slithy†is long, as in “writheâ€; and “toves†is pronounced so as to rhyme with “groves.†Again, the first “o†in “borogoves†is pronounced like the “o†in “borrow.†I have heard people try to give it the sound of the “o†in “worry.†Such is Human Perversity.

This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words in that poem. Humpty-Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all.

For instance, take the two words “fuming†and “furious.†Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards “fuming,†you will say “fuming-furiousâ€; if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth towards “furious,†you will say “furious-fumingâ€; but if you have that rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say “frumious.â€

Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words—

“Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!â€

Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out “Rilchiam!â€

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Fit the First.

THE LANDING.

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“SUPPORTING EACH MAN ON THE TOP OF THE TIDEâ€

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“HE HAD WHOLLY FORGOTTEN HIS NAMEâ€

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“THE BEAVER KEPT LOOKING THE OPPOSITE WAYâ€

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Fit the Second.

THE BELLMAN’S SPEECH.

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OCEAN-CHART.

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Fit the Third.

THE BAKER’S TALE.

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“BUT OH, BEAMISH NEPHEW, BEWARE OF THE DAYâ€

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Fit the Fourth.

THE HUNTING.

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“TO PURSUE IT WITH FORKS AND HOPE.â€

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Fit the Fifth.

THE BEAVER’S LESSON.

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“THE BEAVER BROUGHT PAPER, PORTFOLIO, PENSâ€

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Fit the Sixth.

THE BARRISTER’S DREAM.

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“‘YOU MUST KNOW—’ SAID THE JUDGE: BUT THE SNARK EXCLAIMED ‘FUDGE!’â€

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Fit the Seventh.

THE BANKER’S FATE.

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“SO GREAT WAS HIS FRIGHT THAT HIS WAISTCOAT TURNED WHITE.â€

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Fit the Eighth.

THE VANISHING.

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“THEN, SILENCEâ€

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SIZE AND TEARS.

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“HE’S THIN AND I AM STOUTâ€

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ATALANTA IN CAMDEN-TOWN.

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THE LANG COORTIN’.

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“AND OUT AND LAUGHED THE POPINJAYâ€

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“O HUSH THEE, GENTLE POPINJAY!â€

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“THE DOGGIE CEASED HIS NOISEâ€

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FOUR RIDDLES.

[These consist of two Double Acrostics and two Charades.

No. I. was written at the request of some young friends, who had gone to a ball at an Oxford Commemoration—and also as a specimen of what might be done by making the Double Acrostic a connected poem instead of what it has hitherto been, a string of disjointed stanzas, on every conceivable subject, and about as interesting to read straight through as a page of a Cyclopædia. The first two stanzas describe the two main words, and each subsequent stanza one of the cross “lights.â€

No. II. was written after seeing Miss Ellen Terry perform in the play of “Hamlet.†In this case the first stanza describes the two main words.

No. III. was written after seeing Miss Marion Terry perform in Mr. Gilbert’s play of “Pygmalion and Galatea.†The three stanzas respectively describe “My First,†“My Second,†and “My Whole.â€]

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I.

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II.

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III.

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IV.

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FAME’S PENNY-TRUMPET.

[Affectionately dedicated to all “original researchers†who pant for “endowment.â€]

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“GO, THRONG EACH OTHER’S DRAWING-ROOMSâ€

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