‘The Hunting of the Snark’

Posted by Linda Sue Grimes Jul 11, 2008

What is a Snark?

Probably a portmanteau for “snake” and “shark.” Here’s how Carroll explains the concept: “ . . . 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-furious’; if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards ‘furious,’ you will say ‘furious-fuming’; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say frumious.’”

Actually, I would say, ‘fumrious.” Placing the “r” before the “u,” makes it more difficult to establish the two words that are being conflated. It is easier to pronounce if you make it “frumious.” But then maybe Carroll wanted to make it more difficult.

The Poem

The poem is long with a Preface and eight “fits.” It has a skillfully composed rime scheme and meter and narrates a perfectly sensible tale is a perfectly nonsensical manner. In other words, this is Carroll at his nonsensical best. It has been studied and critiqued unmercifully by scholars, critics, and other people with too much time on their hands.

The following lines serve as a choral repetition for the poem:

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

They pursued it with forks and hope;

They threatened its life with a railway-share;

They charmed it with smiles and soap.

To read Carroll’s poem, which is accompanied by the drawings of Henry Holiday, please see ”The Hunting of the Snark.”