Poet

Lewis Carroll

English poet · 1832–1898

JabberwockyThe Walrus and the Carpenter

Lewis Carroll — the pen name of Oxford mathematician Charles Dodgson — wrote the Alice books and, inside them, the greatest nonsense poem in English: "Jabberwocky."

Its invented words were so good that several ("chortle," "galumph") simply entered the dictionary. Generations of readers have proved you can understand a poem perfectly without understanding half its words.

2 poems by Lewis Carroll

Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.

You Are Old, Father William"You are old, Father william," the young man said,…32 lines
Chapter I’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves…28 lines