All the poems in Alice in Wonderland are parodies of once familiar rhymes. Scattered lines of the original poems can oft be dredged up from the depths of our minds but; for the most part,the complete original poem eludes us. Only the Carroll parody remains firmly embedded in our minds. The children of today don’t know the original verses at all, sadly many of today’s children don’t even know the Lewis Carroll version. A parody ceases to be a parody without knowledge of the original which is why, in order to fully appreciate the genius of Carroll……………we need the original. The unmistakable poetry of Lewis Carroll
You are old, Father William
‘You are old, Father William,’ the young man said,
‘And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head -
Do you think, at your age, it is right?’
‘In my youth,’ Father William replied to his son,
‘I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.’
‘You are old,’ said the youth, ‘as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door
Pray, what is the reason of that?’
‘In my youth,’ said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
‘I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment - one shilling the box
Allow me to sell you a couple?’
‘You are old,’ said the youth, ‘and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak
Pray how did you manage to do it?’
‘In my youth,’ said his father, ‘I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.’
‘You are old,’ said the youth, ‘one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose What made you so awfully clever?’
‘I have answered three questions, and that is enough,’
Said his father; ‘don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs!’
AND;………………the poem this was ‘’adapted’’ from
The Old Man’s Comforts
And How He Gained Them
Robert Southey
‘You are old, father William,’ the young man cried,
‘The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, father William, a hearty old man;
Now tell me the reason, I pray.’
‘In the days of my youth,’ father William replied,
‘I remember’d that youth would fly fast,
And Abus’d not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last.’
‘You are old, father William,’ the young man cried,
‘And pleasures with youth pass away.
And yet you lament not the days that are gone;
Now tell me the reason, I pray.’
‘In the days of my youth,’ father William replied,
‘I remember’d that youth could not last;
I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.’
‘You are old, father William,’ the young man cried,
‘And life must be hast’ning away;
You are cheerful and love to converse upon death;
Now tell me the reason, I pray.’
‘I am cheerful, young man,’ father William replied,
‘Let the cause thy attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remember’s my God.
And He hath not forgotten my age.’
The rest of the Lewis Carroll poems and the original poems can be found here.
(above cayman by ariane urwick)
