The Walrus and the Carpenter
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"The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a narrative 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, in an alternation of iambic trimeters and iambic tetrameters. The rhyme scheme is ABCBDB, and masculine rhymes appear frequently. The rhyming and rhythmical schema used, as well as some archaisms and syntactical turns, are those of the traditional English ballad.
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[edit] Summary
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 night when both sun and moon are visible, the Walrus and Carpenter come upon an offshore bed of oysters, four of whom they invite to join them; to the disapproval of the eldest oyster, many more follow them. After walking along the beach (a point is made of the fact that the oysters are all neatly shod despite having no feet), the two titular characters are revealed to be predatory and eat all of the oysters. After hearing the poem, the good-natured Alice attempts to determine which of the two leading characters might be the more sympathetic, but is thwarted by the twins' further interpretation:
"I like the Walrus best," said Alice, "because you see he was a little sorry for the poor oysters."
"He ate more than the Carpenter, though," said Tweedledee. "You see he held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn't count how many he took: contrariwise."
"That was mean!" Alice said indignantly. "Then I like the Carpenter best—-if he didn't eat so many as the Walrus."
"But he ate as many as he could get," said Tweedledum.
This was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice began, "Well! They were both very unpleasant characters—-"
[edit] Interpretations
| “ | "The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: |
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In The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner noted that The Walrus and the Carpenter is one of the few poems in the whole of English literature to be remembered for its middle verse rather than its first (see right) and also 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). Since Tenniel, rather than Carroll, chose the carpenter, the character's significance in the poem is probably not in his profession. Although the two characters have been interpreted, for instance, as two political types,[1] there is no indication of what they were intended to represent. Gardner cautions the reader that there is not always intended symbolism in the Alice books, which were made for the imagination of children and not the analysis of "mad people".
Many portions of the Alice 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 says in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that "everything's got a moral, if only you can find it".[2]
[edit] Adaptations
The Beatles' song "I Am the Walrus" was written in part due to this poem. John Lennon believed that the poem was an indictment of capitalism.[3]
In the Kevin Smith film "Dogma", one character Loki amusingly presents, to a nun, a shocking interpretation of this poem as an indictment against the major organized religions. In this interpretation, the Carpenter represents Christianity since Jesus was a carpenter, while the Walrus, being fat, represents Buddhism which has the Buddha often portrayed, in statuary, as having a large belly, or alternatively the Walrus with its tusks represents Hinduism since the Hindu god Ganesha, having an elephant's head, has tusks. The character Loki in "Dogma" then points out that the Walrus and Carpenter, representing organized religions, tricks the oysters to follow them and proceeds to eat and destroy the oysters.
The Walrus and the Carpenter is adapted in almost every film adaptation of Through the Looking-Glass and almost any version of Alice in Wonderland that incorporates Tweedledee and Tweedledum. A notable exception is the 1972 film.
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 James Patrick O'Malley performs all five voices, including that of Mother Oyster.[4] This version also differs somewhat on the ending, wherein the enraged Carpenter ends up chasing the Walrus with his hammer for what he has done, apparently because the Walrus had eaten all the oysters before the Carpenter could eat any. Mr. Walrus also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character, although this character makes very rare appearances.
In the 1985 film adaptation, The Walrus and the Carpenter are portrayed by Karl Malden and Louis Nye respectively.
In the 1999 television adaptation, the Walrus and the Carpenter are portrayed by Peter Ustinov and Pete Postlethwaite respectively.
In Alice (TV miniseries), a modern adaptation of Through the Looking-Glass aired on SyFy in December of 2009, the humans who are kidnapped and kept in Wonderland are referred to as Oysters. The head scientist who processes the Oysters is referred to as Carpenter, and his assistant as Walrus.
[edit] Notes
- ^ J. B. Priestley New Statesman, August 10, 1957, p. 168
- ^ Carroll, Lewis (1995). The Complete, Fully Illustrated Works. New York: Gramercy Books. ISBN 0-517-10027-4.
- ^ David Sheff, All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 2000
- ^ Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn. (1951). Alice in Wonderland. [DVD]. Walt Disney.
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- Text of the Walrus and the Carpenter (with illustrations)
- Audio - hear the poem
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