What is the meaning of the poem at the end of Through The Looking Glass?

Answer 1

In reference to the children's novel "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" (1871) by Lewis Carroll, it means Alice's stepping through the mirror on her home's fireplace mantel into a world of strange sights and characters. Preceding this book was a different story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) in which Alice fell through a rabbit hole into a similarly strange world. However, most modern screen versions of "Alice in Wonderland" combine characters and events from the two versions.

As a saying, "through the looking glass" means entering an experience or situation that is strange, weird, or seemingly outside of what is normal. In the 1991 Oliver Stone directed and co-written movie "JFK", about the conspiracies surrounding the assasination of President Kennedy, Kevin Costner's prosecutor character says ""We're through the looking glass here, people".

Answer 2

The poem at the end of Through the Looking Glass is an acrostic, that is, the first letter of every line spells something - in this case the name Alice Pleasance Liddell.

It was Alice Liddell for whom the original Alice book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was written. Carroll composed the story while on a rowing trip in July 1862 with Alice and her sisters Edith and Lorina. The first two stanzas of the poem refer to that event.

A BOAT beneath a sunny sky,

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening in July --

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear --

It has been claimed that Carroll had a falling out with the Liddell family between the publication of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It is possible that the second two stanzas are a reflection of this, or they might simply be expressing a melancholy for the passing of happy times.

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.

The next three stanzas look forward to the future and anticipate other children who will hear and love the stories of Wonderland. The last two stanzas compare three things; life and the passage of time, dreams (of Wonderland) and drifting along a river. The final stanza revives the boat motif of the first, but rather than referring to a single specific event, uses it as a metaphor for life.

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 poem also serves as a mirror image to the poem at the beginning of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, All in the Golden Afternoon, which recounts how the story of Alice first came to be told. It has a much more cheerful, upbeat tone than the poem at the end of Looking Glass which is melancholy and nostalgic. And it appears at the beginning of the story while this poem is featured at the end. This mirror reflectivity is appropriate of course, as it reflects the themes of Through the Looking Glass.

Answer 3

Alice goes through the looking glass because she is curious about what the looking glass house is like. She knows that all the parts she can see are just like their equivalents in her house, but she wants to know whether the things she can't see are the same as well. She also suspects that the looking glass house has beautiful things in it which she would like to see.

`Now, if you'll only attend, Kitty, and not talk so much, I'll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there's the room you can see through the glass -- that's just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair -- all but the bit behind the fireplace. Oh! I do so wish I could see that bit! I want so much to know whether they've a fire in the winter: you never can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too -- but that may be only pretence, just to make it look as if they had a fire. Well then, the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way; I know that, because I've held up one of our books to the glass, and then they hold up one in the other room.

`How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they'd give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn't good to drink -- But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. You can just see a little peep of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it's very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking- glass House! I'm sure it's got, oh! such beautiful things in it!

Answer 4

The poem at the end of "Through the Looking-Glass" is called "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky." It reflects the theme of childhood innocence and the passage of time. The poem is meant to evoke a sense of nostalgia and wonder, capturing the whimsical and dreamlike nature of the story.