Allegra Donadio

Ms. Anderson

AP English, Period 1 Donadio 1

3 February 2011
A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky Analysis

1. “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll

2. 1872

3. On the surface level the poem is about the narrator telling three children a story.

4. The speaker is the poet (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), who’s penname is Lewis

Carroll.

5. The poem appears to be for Alice Pleasance Liddell, a youth with who he

appeared to be infatuated and who supposedly of the antagonist of Alice’s

Adventures in Wonderland is based.

6. An evening of July

7. Outdoors on a boat

8. The poem addresses how children grow up and lose their innocence, but then it

reverts back to how as youths they are able to imagine and dream carelessly.

9. The poem in the first two stanzas and the fifth stanza the tone is affectionate,

enthusiastic, and lighthearted. The third and fourth stanzas are much darker,

grim, and melancholy. The last two stanzas are again upbeat and very dreamy,

entranced, and detached.

10. First Stanza: This describes the setting as they languidly ride a boat.

Second Stanza: The three Liddell children prepare to hear a story from Lewis

Carroll.

Third Stanza: Carroll discusses how time passes and how people age.
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Fourth Stanza: Carroll talks of how Alice haunts him like a ghost.

Fifth Stanza: This returns to the children awaiting a story.

Sixth and Seventh Stanza: These talk about how children dream and let their

imagination often take over.

11. Phantomwise – like a ghost or phantom

12. The poem is acrostic spelling out Alice Pleasance Liddell, the girl with who he

seemingly has a delirious obsession. There is repetition in the second and fifth

stanza of the “children” who have a “tale to hear” with “eager eye and willing

ear.” Also there is repetition of “dreaming as the . . . ” in lines 17 and 18 and then

the poem ends with “dream.” Lastly, the second and second to last lines both start

with “lingering.” There is also light alliteration in “sunny sky,” “nestle near,” and

“golden gleam.” There is metonymy of the three children’s eyes and ears in

“eager eye and willing ear” (which also displays assonance). There is also a

metaphor comparing “life” to a “dream” in the last line.

13. The third stanza has a very strong, deathlike image. It discusses the change of

time from sunny summer to cold fall. The line “Autumn frost have slain July”

very vividly deals with this.

14. My favorite line is the last, “Life, what is it but a dream?” The build up to this

line is written so prettily and of course dreamily. This line was also a good

ending sentence, which calls attention to the elusive, imaginative, and detached

way life can sometimes be.

15. I chose this poem, because I am an Alice in Wonderland enthusiast. I also liked

the dreamlike and engaging style the poem is written in.