'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
all mimsy were the borogroves,
      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 a while 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 borogroves,
      and the mome raths outgrabe.

Lewis Carroll's nonsense poems have been astonishing popular with children and adults alike since the first publication of Alice in Wonderland in 1865, and have influenced the work of a host of modern writers, including James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borgese and Vladimir Nabokov.

This generous selection of Carroll's verse serves as an ideal introduction to his work. It includes the best-known Alice poems as well as 'Sylvie and Bruno', 'The Hunting of the Snark' and pieces from Phantasmagoria the text is illustrated with a number of the evocative original Tenniel drawings.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Select Bibliography

Introduction

Early Poems

My Fairy

Brother and Sister

Rules and Regulations

Lays of Sorrow No.1

Lays of Sorrow No.2

The Two Brothers

Poems from the Alice's

Dedication

How Doth...

The Mouse's Tale

Father William

The Duchess's Lullaby

Mad Hatter's Song

The Mock Turtle's Song

Alice's Recitation

Turtle Soup

Evidence Read at the Trial

Jabberwocky

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Humpty Dumpty's Recitation

The White Knight's Ballad

Acrostic



From Phantasmogoria

Phantasmagoria

A Sea Dirge

Hiawatha's Photographing

Poeta Fit, Non Nascitur

The Lang Coortin'



The Hunting of the Snark

Fit the First

Fit the Second

Fit the Third

Fit the Fourth

Fit the Fifth

Fit the Sixth

Fit the Seventh

Fit the Eighth





Poems from Sylvie and Bruno

And Sylvie and Bruno Concluded



            The Mad Gardener's Song

            The Three Badgers

            The King-Fisher's Song

            The Pig-Tale





Appendix: 'Jabberwocky'-



Humpty Dumpty Explains.



Index of first lines



Illustrations



'Father William' from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, 1865



'Jabberwocky'

'The Walrus and the Carpenter'

from Alice Through the Looking-Glass, illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, 1871





The Hunting of the Snark illustrated by Henry Holiday, 1876