Actually the Nonsense writings of Lewis Carroll are a highly technical
form of conscious and responsible humour, which, when analysed, are
found to contain plot (or “idea”), achievements, climax, and, in the
case of his poems, rhyme and rhythm. “Jabberwocky” offers excellent
proof of this. Rhyme and rhythm, indeed, are absolutely essential to
good Nonsense Verse, which the further removed it is from rules of
sense must conform the more closely to rules of sound. It is these
factors and the others mentioned in conjunction with them which render
Nonsense Poetry so superior to the nonsense rhymes of the nursery
and the folk song, including the sea chanty. One type is Nonsense,
the other D---- Nonsense. Then, of course, there is sheer Nonsense;
but as this is principally confined to the speeches and writings of
politicians, we need not enlarge on that aspect of the question here.
So responsible and conscious a literary jester was Lewis Carroll that
it is doubtful if there has ever been a more meticulous precisian in
the use and intentional misuse of words, including those coined by
himself. Every word, every comma, had to be printed exactly as he had
planned in his development of the spontaneous idea upon which the
particular story or poem was based, and no author took more trouble to
ensure that the illustrations to his books exactly corresponded to his
conception of the subject. He would send back drawings again and again,
no matter how distinguished the artist might be, until some little
defect in suggestion, as he saw it, was remedied, and was equally
fastidious with regard to the style in which his books were produced.
Thus, “Sylvie and Bruno Concluded” appears on announcement which states:
“For over twenty-five years I have made it my chief object, with regard
to my books, that they should be of the best workmanship obtainable
at the price. And I am deeply annoyed to find that the last issue of
‘Through the Looking Glass,’ consisting of the Sixtieth Thousand, has
been put on sale without its being noticed that most of the pictures
have failed so much in the printing as to make the book not worth
buying. I request all holders of copies to send them to Messrs. ----
with their names and addresses, and copies of the new issue shall be
sent them in exchange.”
Undoubtedly he has his limitations, particularly in his best and
most characteristic work. This may appear paradoxical, but the
writer of these notes is strongly of the opinion that one of the
most fascinating qualities about Lewis Carroll’s work is that its
popularity is never likely to be universal. His humour is essentially
“Anglo-Saxon,” and its “psychology” also, which explains why Carroll’s
“immortality” as a genius is founded on British and American
appreciation, and why the various foreign translations of his works
were comparative failures. A remarkable endorsement of the American
popularity of his works appeared on July 14th, this year, in the London
papers. The account in “The Daily News” read as follows:
“In the handbook of the American students who will be touring England
this summer, issued by the National Union of Students, a number of
books are recommended as calculated to give young Americans ‘some
comprehension of English life and thought.’
“Among them I observe: ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice,’
Chesterton’s ‘The Flying Inn,’ ‘The Forsyte Saga,’ ‘Tess of the
d’Urbervilles,’ ‘A Shropshire Lad,’ ‘Major Barbara,’ and ‘Man and
Superman.’”