Friday, September 13, 2013

Snarky

What I tell you three times is true.
~Lewis Carroll


For Poetry Friday, a catchy little song about snark-hunting:


Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits, which has some of the same creatures and words as The Jabberwocky, describes "the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature." What creature? The Snark, of course. The trouble with Snarks is that some of them are Boojums:

"'But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!'


* The text of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark
* An annotated version
* An illustrated version
* An audio version
* The Hunting of the Snark, an online game
* I quoted The Hunting of the Snark in a post about maps

The crew consists of a Bellman, a Boots, a Bonnet-maker, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-marker, a Banker, a Butcher, a Baker, and a Beaver. The women are Hope and Care.
The Hunting Party:

Spoiler Warning! :-)
It was a Boojum:


Teach Mentor Texts is our Poetry Friday round-up host.

14 comments:

Linda B said...

Lots of laughs on Poetry Friday today! Love those costumes of the orchestra and the performers-what a cute little ditty! The boojums in my life are unusual trees in Sonora, Mexico. Discovered them on a school trip! Reminded me of Dr. Seuss!

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Lewis Carroll + Billy Connolly = HAPPY. Thanks :)

Liz Steinglass said...

Fabulous. I have to admit a real love of "An Agony in Eight Fits." Maybe because I witnessed a personal performance this very morning.

BJ Lee said...

Thanks for this post! I haven't revisited the Snark in quite awhile!

jama said...

Such fun. Cornelius was a little disappointed that the crew didn't include a bear.

Tara @ A Teaching Life said...

Such fun...whether a snark or a boojum !

Violet N. said...

You drill down into topics in the most interesting way! I never know what to expect here--always an adventure.

GatheringBooks said...

It's funny that being "snarky" now means being disagreeable in a seemingly-hip and acceptably-sarcastic manner. Thanks for sharing the video clip as well! :)

Heidi Mordhorst said...

How, how is it that I have never actually encountered more than the title of this great work. The video is Carroll meets Gilbert and Sullivan--I wonder if it's ever been performed whole?

Thanks, Tabatha!

Keri said...

A treat, as always, Tabatha! The costumes and enthusiasm of the conductor made me smile! The tune is sure to be in my head all day.

Bridget Magee said...

What a fun post, Tabatha! Thank you for this bit of brilliance. =)

Mary Lee said...

So. Much. Fun.

Diane Mayr said...

Love it!

Goetz Kluge said...

How about taking another look at Henry Holiday's illustrations to The Hunting of the Snark?