Alice Liddell

I chose to read the poem “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll, who also happened to write Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I have attached the poem here for reference:

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July —

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear —

Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream —
Lingering in the golden gleam —
Life, what is it but a dream?

The first thing you’ll notice is that the poem is eerily reminiscent of “Row, Row, Row your Boat.” In fact, Carroll manages to take an almost dark and twisted take on the song, without even using any such language. The second thing you might notice is that this alludes heavily to the stories of Wonderland which Lewis also wrote, only this seems to take place after the poem, given the lines “Long has paled that sunny sky, echoes fade and memories die.” In this case, it seems like Alice has grown up and is telling of her adventures to her children, with a sense of longing wonder.

I mentioned in my reading of the poem that this was adapted into a song by David Del Tredici entitled “Acrostic Song.” This might have seemed like a passing detail, but go back and look at the poem again. Do you see it?

The first letters of each line in the poem spell out “Alice Pleasance Liddell.” Do a little bit of research and you will find that this was the name of a childhood acquaintance of Lewis Carroll, and the two would often tell stories to one another. In fact it was on a boating trip with Alice that Lewis told her stories that would eventually become known as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I chose to write on this poem because I had already been introduced to the band arrangement of “Acrostic Song” in sophomore year. It was such a powerful piece that I have never been able to take in any sort of Wonderland adaptation without feeling a bit uneasy. I was curious about the workings of the piece and its inspiration, and I don’t think I was disappointed. In a way, this mess of a senior year can be considered a “Wonderland”–not quite good, not quite bad, but something in between. And looking back, I think all of us will undulate between feelings of fond nostalgia and uneasy regret, the same emotions that the audience seems to feel when they read/listen to this poem.