Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

Background Information

Published in 1865, this book was inspired by Alice Liddell the daughter of Henry George Liddell. Carroll told Alice and her two sisters fanciful tales. At first Alice in Wonderland was seen as too extravagant, however over time it gained popularity amongst both children and adults.

Key Quotes

“Who in the world am I?” Ah that’s a great puzzle.

This quote supports Carroll’s notion that life is an unduly complicated mystery that humans must use rational thoughts and intelligence to understand. People were living in a time of great change. Everyone was trying to behave in the way that was acceptable for their social role and with ideas changing so often, some may have found it difficult to keep up. It is likely that they would have lost sense of who they were.

To be continued….

Impression Du Matin – Oscar Wilde

The Thames nocturne of blue and gold
Changed to a Harmony in grey:
A barge with ochre-coloured hay
Dropt from the wharf: and chill and cold

The yellow fog came creeping down
The bridges, till the houses’ walls
Seemed changed to shadows and St. Paul’s
Loomed like a bubble o’er the town.

Then suddenly arose the clang
Of waking life; the streets were stirred
With country waggons: and a bird
Flew to the glistening roofs and sang.

But one pale woman all alone,
The daylight kissing her wan hair,
Loitered beneath the gas lamps’ flare,
With lips of flame and heart of stone.

Impression Du Matin, published in 1881, was referred to as a painting in words due to it’s elaborative description. 

Poet’s thoughts and feelings:

• This poem begins by describing a vast scence of London, it is very open and not personal. However stanza by stanza the poem becomes more intimate, ending with the description of the features of one woman in the big city. Each stanza focuses on describing from one perspective.
• Oscar Wilde also talks, if only slightly, about the context of the time. There is possible references to The Contagious Disease Act in this poem, through the quote ‘lips of flame’. With the lady of interest more than likely being a streetwalker we can see how this is relevant. Wilde also touches on the way of life in London. There are signs of business in the city, with the streets coming to life in the third stanza. This also shows the time of day this poem is set. 
• We become aware that Wilde cared about the issues going on at the time as he has written about them in this poem.
• The fairly ‘set back’ perspectives in this poem could imply that Wilde is reflecting on life, however as there is not a direct speaker of the poem we can assume that his life could have been very different from that which is described. As an outsider from this style of life, Wilde may have been showing an unbiased view to the world.

Language, Techniques and Structure:

• In the first stanza the quote ‘nocturne in blue and gold’ is a reference to the artist Whistler. Many have said that Wilde’s work is the poetic version of Whistler’s oeuvre as he uses a lot of musical descriptives (eg. nocturne – composition of a dreamy mood and harmony). These musical terms describe the scene just as they are in the titles of Whistler’s works.
• The title itself means a painting or an impression, this is reflected also through the structure and form of the poem. The poem consists of four quatrains with an ABBA rhyme scheme. This bracketed rhyme scheme gives us the impression that each quatrain is blocked in. Also in each stanza, the second and third lines are indented again giving the image of the quatrains being framed/blocked in much like four small paintings mounted in their own frames.
• Wilde has used iambic tetrameter in this poem. ( da Dum da Dum da Dum da Dum).
• There is use of alliteration in this poem, this, along with the rhythm of the poem, allows it to become more like a song and in turn more like a piece of art.