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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodson) Social Critic 1889

Lewis Carroll, "The Mad Gardener's Song", Sylvie and Bruno. 1889.

Illustration by Harry Furniss from Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno

Poem cited today on the letters page of the Financial Times by David Jodrey, a MD reader. I was unaware of this side of Lewis Carroll. The esteemed authority Wikipedia says "the story set in Victorian Britain is a social novel, with its characters discussing various concepts and aspects of religion, society, philosophy and morality." I used to love reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass with our kids, especially the nonsense verse.

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!"

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