Lewis Carroll
Four Riddles
[These consist of two Double Acrostics and two Charades.
No. I. was written at the request of some young friends, who had
gone to a ball at an Oxford Commemoration--and also as a specimen
of what might be done by making the Double Acrostic A CONNECTED
POEM instead of what it has hitherto been, a string of disjointed
stanzas, on every conceivable subject, and about as interesting to
read straight through as a page of a Cyclopaedia. The first two
stanzas describe the two main words, and each subsequent stanza one
of the cross "lights."
Jabberwocky
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wade;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
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 awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
Melancholetta
With saddest music all day long
She soothed her secret sorrow:
At night she sighed “I fear ’twas wrong
Such cheerful words to borrow.
Dearest, a sweeter, sadder song
I’ll sing to thee to-morrow.”
I thanked her, but I could not say
That I was glad to hear it:
I left the house at break of day,
And did not venture near it
Till time, I hoped, had worn away
Her grief, for nought could cheer it!
My dismal sister! Couldst thou know
The wretched home thou keepest!
Thy brother, drowned in daily woe,
Is thankful when thou sleepest;
For if I laugh, however low,
