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Nonsense Verse - Page 2

© Suzanne Hill

Evidently The Hunting of the Snark developed from the single line, "For the Snark was a Boojum, you see," that occurred to Carroll while out walking one day. Reminds me of Pooh Bear's nonsensical little rhymes that helped him think as he strolled along tapping his forehead. "Think, think," he would say to himself, being of course a bear of very little brain:

The more it snows, tiddly-pom,
The more it goes, tiddly-pom.
And nobody knows, tiddly-pom,
How cold my toes, tiddly-pom,
Are growing.

To be successful, nonsense verse must follow recognized structure and syntax of language. Neologisms, to be appreciated as funny, need to be rooted in the familiar. Otherwise, how would we know to react to them? Witness the opening lines of Carroll's Jabberwocky that sound believable even as they leave us looking askance:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

Here's another nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll, You Are Old, Father William, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"
"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault at the door--
Pray, what is the reason for that?"
"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box--
Allow me to sell you a couple."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"
"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
What made you so awfully clever?"
"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs;

Miss Emily Toastwater by Edward Gorey

Madame Galoche by Edward Gorey

Bahhumbug by Edward Gorey

Shroud by Edward Gorey

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