The Walrus and the Carpenter speaking to the Oysters, as portrayed by illustrator John Tenniel

"The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a poem by Lewis Carroll that appeared in his book Through the Looking-Glass, published in December 1871. The poem is recited in chapter four, by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice. The poem is composed of 18 stanzas and contains 108 lines;[2] the rhyme scheme is ABCBDB; and masculine rhymes appear frequently. [3] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1073x710, 983 KB)A scene from The Walrus and the Carpenter, by Lewis Caroll, drawn by Sir John Tenniel in 1871. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1073x710, 983 KB)A scene from The Walrus and the Carpenter, by Lewis Caroll, drawn by Sir John Tenniel in 1871. ... 1889 Self-portrait Sir John Tenniel (February 28, 1820 – February 25, 1914) was an English illustrator. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) – believed to be a self-portrait Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: ) (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. ... Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is a work of childrens literature by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), generally categorized as literary nonsense. ... Tweedledum and Tweedledee are characters in Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There and in a nursery rhyme by an anonymous author. ... John Tenniel illustrated the first editions of the Alice books. ... In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. ... A rhyme scheme is like the pattern of rhyming like lines in a poem or in like lyrics for music. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...

Summary

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The Walrus and the Carpenter

The Walrus and the Carpenter are the titular characters in the poem, which is recited by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice. Walking upon a beach one "sunny" night, the Walrus and Carpenter come upon some oysters, four of whom they invite to join them Рhowever, to the disapproval of the eldest oyster, many more follow them. After walking along the beach, the two titular characters get hungry and eat all of the oysters. Afterward, the Walrus regrets his actions and cries, mostly because now there are no more oysters for him to eat. Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of Walrus Subspecies Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) are large semi-aquatic mammals that live in the cold Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. ... Carpenter at work in Tennessee, June 1942. ... Ninety Mile Beach Australia. ... Crassostrea gigas, Marennes-Ol̩ron Crassostrea gigas, Marennes-Ol̩ron Crassostrea gigas, Marennes-Ol̩ron, opened The name oyster is used for a number of different groups of mollusks which grow for the most part in marine or brackish water. ...

Interpretations

In The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner noted that when Carroll gave the manuscript for Looking Glass to illustrator John Tenniel, he gave him the choice of drawing a carpenter, a butterfly, or a baronet (since each word would fit the poem's meter). Tenniel chose the carpenter. Because of this, the carpenter's significance in the poem is probably not in his profession. Although the two characters of the poem were interpreted later as two political types, there is no indication of what Carroll may have intended; Gardner cautions the reader that there isn't too much intended symbolism in the Alice books. The books were made for the imagination of children not the analysis of "mad people". The Annotated Alice is a work by Martin Gardner incorporating the text of Lewis Carrolls major tales - Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. ... Martin Gardner (b. ... 1889 Self-portrait Sir John Tenniel (February 28, 1820 – February 25, 1914) was an English illustrator. ... Carpenter at work in Tennessee, June 1942. ... Superfamilies and families Superfamily Hedyloidea: Hedylidae Superfamily Hesperioidea: Hesperiidae Superfamily Papilionoidea: Papilionidae Pieridae Nymphalidae Lycaenidae Riodinidae A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptora. ... A baronet (traditional abbreviation Bart, modern abbreviation Bt) or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess (abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown known as a baronetcy. ... Meter (British English spelling: metre) describes the linguistic sound patterns of a verse. ...

Many portions of the Wonderland tales can be tied only to sheer whimsy, and while Carroll's life observations do make themselves obvious from time to time, it is possible that "The Walrus and the Carpenter" is not one of them: Carroll's character The Duchess said in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that "everything's got a moral, if only you can find it".^[1] Alice and the Duchess The Duchess is a character invented by Lewis Caroll, who appeared for the first time in Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll, in 1865. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Nevertheless, there are many interpretations of the poem, whether it be in politics, religion, or business. An example of such modern reinterpretation and argument by analogy is a recent article by the Socialist writer Richard Greeman, who holds that Carroll intended to satirise the inter-imperialist rivalries and wild grab of colonies and resources going on at the time of writing, with the Walrus being the British Empire and the Carpenter – France. Greeman then proceeds into the present, blaming the rivalry and war by proxy between "The Walrus Bush" and "The Carpenter Chirac" for bloody African civil wars, specifically the Rwanda genocide. Bush is mentioned as having invaded Iraq in order to "devour Iraq's oyster reserves – I mean oil reserves"^[2]. The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... A proxy war is a war where two powers use third parties as a supplement or a substitute for fighting each other directly. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ...

The Movie Version

In Disney's Alice in Wonderland, an adapted version of the poem is narrated in song and spoken word by Tweedledee and Tweedledum. In this virtuoso performance, character actor J. Pat O'Malley performs all four voices as well as the Mother Oyster. ^[3] The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso, late Latin virtuosus, Latin virtus meaning: skill, manliness, excellence) is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument. ... J. Pat OMalley (March 15, 1904 - February 27, 1985) was an English singer and actor of Irish extraction. ...

In popular culture

• In one of the episodes of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead (Part Two, Ch. 12), the book's arch-villain Ellsworth Toohey launches a devastating journalistic attack on the hero Howard Roark. Toohey prefaces his article by a paraphrase of the Walrus' famous words (appearing on the top of this page), in which the words "And whether pigs have wings" are replaced by "And whether Roark has wings."
• In 1066 and All That, W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman said that King Richard II of England exclaimed gloomily, "For God's sake, let me sit on the ground and tell bad stories about cabbages and things." This combines the poem's famous lines, "Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—Of cabbages—and kings," and dialogue from William Shakespeare's play Richard II, "Let's talk of graves and worms and epitaphs... For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground/And tell sad stories of the death of kings."
• John Lennon claims to have written the 1967 song "I Am the Walrus" after coming to the conclusion that he was the Walrus on an acid trip. However, in a 1980 interview with Playboy, he said of the song, "Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, 'Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, "I am the carpenter." ' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it?"
• Donovan set "The Walrus and the Carpenter" to music on his 1971 children's album H.M.S. Donovan. The song features many segments acted and sung by Donovan and his friends. Paul McCartney appears with Donovan on a bootleg recording of the song dating from around 1968.
• In the movie Dogma (directed by Kevin Smith), a fallen angel named Loki explains his theory that the poem is really an indictment of organized religion (despite Carroll being an Anglican clergyman), with the Walrus representing Eastern religions (either Buddha or Ganesha) and the Carpenter referring to Jesus and Western religions in general. Loki chides them for eating the innocent oysters, which represent the masses under their sway. A further twist to this satirical episode is that Loki, who uses this interpretation specifically to undermine and test the beliefs of a Catholic nun with whom he is speaking, knows these beliefs to be right through his own first hand knowledge of God. Loki states he does this to the clergy to "keep them on their toes" implying he does this to test their faith and later strengthened it should they recover.
• In the movie Harriet The Spy, Rosie O'Donnell and Michelle Trachtenberg often quip the poem on the way to bed. A line is spoken during one of the most dramatic scenes from the poem. Of other things, it shows the intense bond between Harriet and Golly.
• The Dresden Dolls song The Time Has Come contains lyrics borrowed from the poem.
• In the novel Savage Day the main antagonist Frank Barry refers to "ships and sealing wax, cabbages and kings."
• The Tourniquet song Drinking from the Poisoned Well contains the lyrics: "The time has come to speak of many things / not shoes and ships and sealing wax, not cabbages and kings...".
• In the eleventh book of the A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, The Grim Grotto, the Verse Fluctuation Declaration code uses the poem to direct the Baudelaires to Briny Beach, a connection to the sixth stanza of the poem.
• In the comic Jack of Fables, The Walrus and the Carpenter, with some of the oysters, live at the Golden Boughs Retirement Village after escaping the Adversary.

Ayn Rand (IPA: , February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Russian: ), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher,[1] best known for developing Objectivism and for writing the novels We the Living, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and the novella Anthem. ... The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand. ... 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. ... Walter Carruthers Sellar (1898 - June 11, 1951) and Robert Julian Yeatman (1898 - July 13, 1968) were British humourists who wrote for Punch, and are best known for their book 1066 and All That (1930, ISBN 0413772705), a tongue-in-cheek guide to all the history you can remember. Sellar was... Walter Carruthers Sellar (1898 - June 11, 1951) and Robert Julian Yeatman (1898 - July 13, 1968) were British humourists who wrote for Punch, and are best known for their book 1066 and All That (1930, ISBN 0413772705), a tongue-in-cheek guide to all the history you can remember. Sellar was... Richard II (January 6, 1367 – February 14, 1400) was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan The Fair Maid of Kent. He was born in Bordeaux and became his fathers successor when his elder brother died in infancy. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Title page of Richard II, from the fifth quarto, published in 1615. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Music sample I Am the Walrus ( file info) Problems? See media help. ... Donovan (Donovan Philips Leitch, born May 10, 1946, in Maryhill, Glasgow) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and guitarist. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... H.M.S. Donovan is the ninth studio album, and tenth album overall, from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an Academy Award and Grammy Award winning English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. ... An assortment of bootleg recordings A bootleg recording (or simply bootleg or boot) is an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under other legal authority. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dogma is a 1999 comedy film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, who stars in the film along with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, George Carlin, and Alanis Morissette. ... Kevin Smith at a comics convention in 2005 Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film director, comic book writer, and creator of View Askew. ... Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of Walrus Subspecies Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) are large semi-aquatic mammals that live in the cold Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. ... Media:Example. ... Ganesha (Sanskrit: ; ;  , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh) is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in Hinduism[8]. Although he is known by many other attributes, Ganeshas elephant head makes him easy to identify. ... Carpenter at work in Tennessee, June 1942. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... Crassostrea gigas, Marennes-Oléron Crassostrea gigas, Marennes-Oléron Crassostrea gigas, Marennes-Oléron, opened The name oyster is used for a number of different groups of mollusks which grow for the most part in marine or brackish water. ... For other uses, see Nun (disambiguation). ... Harriet the Spy is a novel for children by Louise Fitzhugh, published in 1964. ... The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. ... For other uses, see Tourniquet (disambiguation). ... This article is about the book series. ... The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. ...

Notes

1. ^ Carroll, Lewis (1995). The Complete, Fully Illustrated Works. New York: Gramercy Books. ISBN 0-517-10027-4. 
2. ^ Richard Greeman, "Alice in Imperialand", in New Politics Vol. XI No. 3, (Summer 2007), see [1]
3. ^ Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn. Alice in Wonderland [DVD]. Walt Disney.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) – believed to be a self-portrait Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: ) (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. ... New Politics is an independent socialist magazine founded by Phyllis and Julius Jacobson in 1961. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ...

External links

• Text of the Walrus and the Carpenter (with illustrations)
• Audio - hear the poem