The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead --
There were no birds to fly.
(The Walrus and the Carpenter, 13-18)
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll (his pseudonym), was born in 1832 and educated at Rugby College and Christ Church, Oxford. Although a lecturer in mathematics there from 1855, Dodgson achieved international fame as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1866) and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found there (1871). A boat ride with the three daughters of H. G. Liddell, dean of Christ Church -- Alice, Edith, and Lorina -- inspired him to write these tales, which include much of his extant verse. He published poetry as well in Phantasmagoria and Other Poems (1869), The Hunting of the Snark (1876), and Rhyme? and Reason? (1883). He died in 1898. For a biography, see Donald Serrell Thomas's Lewis Carroll: A Portrait with Background (London: John Murray, 1996; PR 4612 T48 1996 Robarts Library). Roger Lancelyn Green edited his diaries (2 vols., 1954) and co-edited with Morton M. Cohen his letters (2 vols., 1979). See also The Annotated Alice, introduced by Martin Gardner (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1960; PR 4611 A55 1960 Robarts Library).
Given name: Charles Lutwidge
Family name: Dodgson
Birth date: 27 January 1832
Death date: 14 January 1898
Nationality: English
Education
Richmond School
Rugby
Christ Church, Oxford (B.A.): 1851 to 1854
Literary period: Victorian
Occupations
Artist
Mathematician
Photographer
Cause of death: Pneumonia
Buried at: Guildford old cemetery, The Mount