Songs From Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

In Short

This collection brings together the lyrical heart of two landmark works of literary nonsense. It organizes the songs, riddles, and parodies scattered throughout those narratives into a single musical volume. From the cautionary tale of a crocodile to the epic, nonsensical struggle of a hero against the Jabberwock, these pieces serve as the rhythmic pulse of their respective stories. They have endured for over a century because they embrace the absurdity of language, proving that sense is often less important than the sheer joy of a well-turned, impossible rhyme.

The Story

The collection functions as a curated journey through a landscape where the rules of reality are perpetually suspended. It opens with the perspective of the natural world warped into the bizarre, such as the crocodile who welcomes fish with "smiling jaws." We quickly move into domestic absurdity, where Father William performs acrobatic feats of aging and a severe parent insists that beating a child is necessary to prevent sneezing.

As the journey continues, the tone shifts from the whimsical to the surreal. We witness a dance of sea creatures invited to sea by a polite whiting, followed by the mournful, rhythmic consumption of oysters by two seemingly sympathetic companions. The narrative arc of these songs is not chronological in a traditional sense, but psychological; it tracks a descent into a deeper, more challenging logic.

The middle section introduces the "Jabberwocky," a centerpiece of invented language that anchors the collection’s commitment to sound over semantics. This is followed by the frantic, failed attempts of a narrator to wake sleeping fish, highlighting the mounting frustration inherent in this dream-world. Characters like Humpty Dumpty make their appearance, cementing the inevitability of a great fall, while the Lion and the Unicorn engage in an endless, cyclical battle for a crown that seems to have no purpose beyond the fighting itself.

Toward the end, we encounter an aged, aged man sitting on a gate, whose life story is a dizzying tapestry of impossible trades—from turning butterflies into mutton pies to hunting haddocks' eyes for waistcoat buttons. The collection culminates in the coronation of Queen Alice. Here, the chaos reaches its zenith: the table is set with buttons, bran, and cats in the coffee, transforming the regal ceremony into a riotous, nonsensical feast. The journey closes with a quiet lullaby, "Hush-a-by, Lady," as the participants settle into a nap, acknowledging that the frantic energy of the feast must eventually yield to the stillness of sleep. It is a full circle, moving from the sharp-toothed grin of a crocodile to the soft, rhythmic closing of eyes at the end of a long, strange day.

How It Unfolds

The natural world inverted The collection begins by subverting familiar nursery rhyme structures. Animals take on human motivations, turning the Nile into a stage for a smiling, predatory crocodile and transforming simple stars into sky-bound tea-trays.

Domesticity and discord The focus shifts to the home, where aging is an athletic pursuit rather than a decline. Parents and children engage in bizarre, disciplinary interactions that prioritize the frustration of the adult over the well-being of the child.

The call to the sea A central set-piece features a rhythmic, coaxing invitation to a dance that leads to a dark, gluttonous end. The contrast between the polite tone of the hosts and their cruel consumption of the oysters sets a tone of underlying danger.

The triumph of nonsense The arrival of the Jabberwock introduces a legendary foe defeated by a "vorpal blade." This section revels in language that sounds meaningful without possessing a dictionary definition, creating a purely sonic experience.

The struggle for order Figures like Humpty Dumpty and the battling Lion and Unicorn represent the futility of stability in this world. Attempts to fix, settle, or win are met with total collapse or recursive, endless conflict.

The final feast The book concludes with a chaotic coronation where the guest list and menu defy physical possibility. The final descent into sleep provides a brief, necessary respite from the relentless movement of the preceding songs.

The People

The characters are less individuals and more archetypes of contradiction. Father William serves as the paradoxical elder, whose physical vigor is matched only by his dismissive attitude toward his questioning son. He represents the confusion of youth when faced with the inexplicable nature of age. The Walrus and the Carpenter are figures of performative empathy; they weep for their victims while simultaneously devouring them, embodying a hypocrisy that is as chilling as it is absurd.

Then there is the Aged, Aged Man, a portrait of persistent, low-level madness. He survives by harvesting the impossible, finding his livelihood in a world that requires him to search grassy knolls for wheels of hansom cabs. His interaction with the narrator—who is more concerned with dyeing his own whiskers green than listening—highlights the disconnection between the inhabitants of this world. Alice herself emerges as the unifying force, the anchor who attempts to preside over the madness of the Queen’s feast. While she assumes the crown, her presence only highlights the utter lack of order in her court. These figures do not grow or learn; they remain fixed in their eccentricity, defined by their inability to conform to any standard of behavior or logic.

In Its Own Voice

The collection often uses rhythm to mask the underlying strangeness of its subjects, as seen in this description of the crocodile:

How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jaws!

The absurdity of the language reaches its peak in the invented terminology used to describe the hero’s victory over his foe:

One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

Even the most mundane interactions are fraught with frustration, as evidenced by a narrator trying to wake the fishes:

I said it very loud and clear; I went and shouted in his ear.

What It's Really About

At its core, this book is an exploration of the fragility of language and logic. It argues that the world is inherently irrational, and that our attempts to categorize or understand it—whether through the law, science, or nursery rhymes—are ultimately as futile as trying to put a broken egg back together. It questions the authority of the "sensible" world by showing how quickly it collapses into nonsense. By juxtaposing the structured form of song and rhyme against the content of total chaos, the work suggests that beauty and order are fragile, temporary constructs. It is a playful, yet profound, reminder that human existence is filled with "buttons and bran," and that the most "beamish" moments in life are often those that defy all reasonable explanation.

Why Read It Today

Readers who delight in wordplay, rhythmic precision, and the courage to embrace the irrational will find this collection a constant source of wonder. There is an infectious, musical quality to these pages that makes them as enjoyable to read aloud as they are to study on the page. It is a perfect companion for those moments when the seriousness of the adult world feels like a constraint, offering a doorway into a space where the rules are entirely one's own.

However, a modern reader should be prepared for the distinct sensibilities of the late Victorian era. The humor can be darkly transactional, particularly in the treatment of animals and children, reflecting period attitudes that may strike some as callous or jarring. There is no overarching plot to hold a reader's hand; instead, one must be willing to drift from one song to the next without the promise of a moral resolution. Those who require their stories to "add up" or who find the dialect and archaic references to things like "hansom-cabs" or "Rowlands' Macassar Oil" distracting may find the journey challenging. Yet, for those who value the freedom of the imagination over the limitations of realism, the experience is timeless, leaving behind a lingering, joyful sense of the world’s delightful, inexplicable absurdity.