NEW CRITICISM

THE WHITE RABBIT'S VERSES

by: Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)

HEY told me you had been to her,

And mentioned me to him;

She gave me a good character,

But said I could not swim.

 

He sent them word I had not gone.

(We know it to be true.)

If she should push the matter on,

What would become of you?

 

I gave her one, they gave him two,

You gave us three or more;

They all returned from him to you,

Though they were mine before.

 

If I or she should chance to be

Involved in this affair,

He trusts to you to set them free,

Exactly as we were.

 

My notion was that you had been

(Before she had this fit)

An obstacle that came between

Him and ourselves and it.

 

Don't let him know she liked them best,

For this must ever be

A secret, kept from all the rest,

Between yourself and me.






CRITICISM:




It's a parody in the genre of nonsense poetry and isn't supposed to be meaningful in a regular way. The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. The Rabbit shows up again in the last few chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queen of Hearts.

         So literally the white rabbit verses refer to the rabbit at the story Alice in Wonderland and It doesn’t have any implied meaning.