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Lewis Carroll was the pen name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), best known for authoring Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll also wrote the poems The Hunting of the Snark and Jabberwocky. In addition to writing these stories and poems under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, Charles Dodgson also was a gifted photographer and a talented mathematician.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), best known for authoring ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its sequel, ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (which contains the poem ''Jabberwocky.'') Carroll also wrote the long nonsense poem, ''The Hunting of the Snark.'' In addition to writing these stories and poems under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, Charles Dodgson also was a gifted photographer and a talented mathematician.
Lewis Carroll's works are full of puns and jokes based on logic. Computer programmers are fond of quoting the King's directions to the White Rabbit, who asks "Where shall I begin, your Majesty" and is told "Begin at the beginning, and go on until you come to the end: then stop."
Modern readers are often unaware that many of the poems in the Alice books are sly parodies of overly-solemn poems that were popular in Victorian times. Carroll's parodies have, in fact, survived better than the poems they were parodying. Isaac Watts'
How doth the little busy Bee<br>
Improve each shining Hour,<br>
And gather Honey all the day<br>
From every opening Flower!<br>
How skilfully she builds her Cell!<br>
How neat she spreads the Wax!<br>
And labours hard to store it well<br>
With the sweet Food she makes.<br>
becomes, in Carroll's hands,
How doth the little crocodile<br>
Improve his shining tail,<br>
And pour the waters of the Nile<br>
On every golden scale!<br>
How cheerfully he seems to grin,<br>
How neatly spread his claws,<br>
And welcome little fishes in<br>
With gently smiling jaws!'<br>
Troubled by feelings of guilt in his youth, Charles Dodgson ultimately became a Christian preacher, following the example set by his father, a gifted mathematician who gave up intellectual career to become a country parson.
Troubled by feelings of guilt in his youth, Charles Dodgson ultimately became a Christian preacher, following the example set by his father, a gifted mathematician who gave up intellectual career to become a country parson.