Echoes Comments

" Kind words are more than coronets, " She said, and wondering looked at me: " It is the dead unhappy night, and I must hurry home to tea." /// fantastic expression

Interesting poem right here...

A Classic confusion, as to what the poem might mean. But this is true: 'Kind words are more than coronets'.

She took her little porringer: Of me she shall not win renown: For the baseness of its nature shall have strength to drag her down. Very good poem. tony

We are Seven -Wordsworth She was eight years old, she said; Her hair was thick with many a curl That clustered round her head. She had a rustic, woodland air, And she was wildly clad: Her eyes were fair, and very fair; Her beauty made me glad. Sisters and brothers, little Maid, And wondering looked at me. I take my little porringer

Much as I admire Lewis Carroll and his genius, I wish he hadn't called this poem Echoes. Or perhaps, as he got here first, I should have renamed my poem Memories of Different Past or something. Sometimes we are blinded by the name and overlook or forgive them when they drop their standards a little.

Pedidihelea it could be confused with here...iip

Lewis is all about echoes.. from echoes reboundin in mind born he paints us a picture that is just a memory of clara vere de clara who wears a necklase too big for her that it should have dragged her down..she goes ahead to imitate the elder or maybe herself she is the elder sibling..then she looks at me wonderin(maybe she remembers something she is supposed to do, or maybe she keeps up the play) ..the real question is who was lady clara vere de vere to the author, such that that memory comes to him like echos to the ears

One born of common blood becomes a Lady. Truly loved by her Lord Husband to be. And Carroll knew it all along. Sounds like the Lady, took the time to help the poor, even as a small child. Thanks for connecting the dots between Tennyson and Carroll, seems they both knew it and were ready to spill the beans until Tennyson found out the Lord truly loved her.

We're so protective of our children these days...could anyone get away with a poem like this today?

maybe he's picking words randomly making it to rhyme while rocking his chair. i like the way he said was eight years old now most of us are thinking what could a eight years old could do? how many eight years old out for the night and hurry home for tea? hehehehe

wow confusing..............

Maybe if you had lived in his time, most of this would fall into place. However, it's all Greek to me.

I read this poem as an almost Lolita-esque temptation parable.

What would you expect from a man who writes under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, because he was an Anglican deacon, mathematician, logician, photographer and English author? Maybe you need to consider the touch of the Irish in his blood to understand him? Or remember that this is the man who wrote, 'Jabberwocky', a hidden Jacobite satire? And Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll clearly delights in word play, logic, and fantasy, and his genre of literary nonsense is obviously intended to entertain. Like Edgar Alan Poe the concept of the poem read aloud with the interaction of the spoken word is important to Carroll, who clearly intends to entertain with this poem. The title Echoes hints perhaps at childhood memories and the poem contains elements of the rhyme of children’s nursery rhymes. Other echoes imbedded are, the titled Lady Clara Vere de Vere, imitating the commanding manner of her elders in her class position within society, a typical game an eight year old, would play. The description of her, ‘Every ringlet, lightly shaken, ran itself in golden thread’ affirms her social position, reads like fairy tale and reminds of the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. Carroll is spinning a poetic tale instead of straw into gold. The dwarf Rumpelstiltskin who spun gold, revealed his name in a song; of the many translations of this song, the 1886 translation by Lucy Crane is intriguing, because the capitals of her name are echoed in Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s pseudonym, Lewis Carroll. ‘She took her little porringer: ’ reminds of Little Jack Horner and his thumb, porringer playing on the double meaning of finger and small bowl. The line ‘For the baseness of its nature shall have strength to drag her down’ reinforces this reading and reminds us that Lady Clara is only a little girl, with apparently bad eating habits. ‘There stands the Inspector at thy door: ’ is the moral and warning that children must study lessons. It reminds of Wee Willie Winkie checking upon children at night. Again the echo of the nursery rhyme Rumpelstiltskin because Rumpelstilzchen in the original German means literally ‘little rumble stilt’; the rumpelstilt or rumpelstilz was a type of goblin, that makes noises by rattling posts and rapping on planks, similar to rumpelgeist rattle ghost or polterghost. Like Wee Willie Winkie tapping upon doors at night, Carroll is building suspense in children, expecting the Inspector to tap at the door at any moment. Is ‘more than coronets’ a reference to Jacobite songs in which Willie Winkie referred King William III of England? Carroll employs such a rich usage of puns and instructs the moral importance of kindness definitively, stating ‘Kind words are more than coronets’, meaning kindness is greater than a coronet; which is a small crown, usually worn by a prince or a peer and not a reigning monarch. Does ‘It is the dead unhappy night’ warn of polterghosts at play? Carroll is definitely having fun playing with us his audience in this poem, both adults and children.

I'm sorry...for me the poem is flickering like a tube-light...difficult for me to comprehend the meaning

Strange poem with much deph. Sort of speaks of higher authority and advising youth to beware of baseness.The inspector at the door, reaches mortal man, to GOD in heaven, watching the earth.

Lewis Carrol has always had amusing poems...

A sort of confusing poem by Lewis Carroll! It may be suitable for the kids to decipher out what it is!

Obviously some kind of derivative poem of Tennyson's Lady Clara Vere de Vere... Carroll had a well-known preoccupation with children so this poem may express that aspect of Lady Clara in some way? All in all a really confusing piece. It sounds nice though.