A Boat Beneath A Sunny SkyBy Lewis Carroll

About the Poet…

• Carroll excelled in mathematics and won many academic prizes.• Carroll loved to entertain children.• He suffered from a stammer that often

influenced his social life.• Lewis was the creator of “Alice’s Adventures

in Wonderland.”• Along with being a poet he was also a

mathematician, photographer, and logician.

Stanza 1

A boat beneath a sunny sky,Lingering onward dreamilyIn an evening of July —

The first stanza describes a boat on the water on a very warm, sunny day that is just drifting away not going anywhere in particular.

Children three that nestle near,Eager eye and willing ear,Pleased a simple tale to hear —

The second stanza describes three children that want the poet to tell them a story as they are all on the boat together.

Stanza 2

Stanza 3

Long has paled that sunny sky:Echoes fade and memories die:Autumn frosts have slain July.

In this stanza the poet is talking about how the warm sunny days are fading away and autumn has replaced summer.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,Alice moving under skiesNever seen by waking eyes.

This stanza is talking about Alice (one of the girls in the boat with Carroll) and when it says “still she haunts me” the poet is referring to the memories of Alice that he still has but he never sees her anymore hence “never seen by waking eyes.”

Stanza 4

Stanza 5

Children yet, the tale to hear,Eager eye and willing ear,Lovingly shall nestle near.

In this stanza the poet is now talking about how the children have not forgotten him. The children still want to hear his stories and cannot wait to see him again.

In a Wonderland they lie,Dreaming as the days go by,Dreaming as the summers die:

The sixth stanza talks about how the children are in a dream world and how they are constantly fantasizing about summer.

Stanza 6

Stanza 7

Ever drifting down the stream —Lingering in the golden gleam —Life, what is it but a dream?

In the last stanza of the poem Carroll refers back to the boat and how he will never forget the time that he shared with the children on the boat. In the last line he is asking if life is a dream because eventually all you have is memories.

Structure

• Lewis Carrol separated this poem into 7 different stanzas to show the order in which an event took place. (sequence of events)• In each stanza there is 3 lines which

creates a total of 21 lines. He did this to tell a story and how things change overtime.• This poem is a ballad.• Ballad- a song that tells a story.

Ballads use a steady rhythm, strong rhymes, and repetition.

Speaker of the Poem

The speaker in this poem is on a boat ride with three children and he is telling them a story.

The speaker is the poet (Lewis Carroll) and he is telling the children about a wonderland. He

soon realizes that as the seasons are changing, the kids are growing up and will soon be too old

for his stories and his mood quickly changes. When he talks about Alice, he is referring to the girl who he later uses in one of his most famous

writings, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Rhyme & Repetition

Repetition: • “Dreaming as the”• “Eager eye and willing

ear”• “tale to hear”

A A A

B B B

AAA

C C C

B B B

A A A

DDD

“Sky” and “dreamily” is approximate rhyme

End rhyme (AAA, BBB, AAA, CCC…)

The rhyme scheme creates rhythm and a

beat in this poem.

Imagery

A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July

Imagery: The boat is going down a stream and is surrounded by golden Autumn trees.

Imagery: A boat on the water just drifting along on a very sunny day.

Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die:Autumn frosts have slain July.

Imagery: It is no longer sunny and there is frost on the ground.

Ever drifting down the stream Lingering in the golden gleamLife, what is it but a dream?

Personification

“Memories die” & “Autumn frosts have slain July”

The poet uses personification to show the significance of the memories being gone and how it is no longer summer (the children have grown up and gone away.)

ThemeThe theme of this poem is that life is all a dream and that you should live life

in the moment because soon all it will be is a memory.

Literal meaningThe seasons are changing and the children have left.

Figurative meaningThe stories that were told are now only a memory and the

children are grown up and their childhood is over.

Author’s PurposeThe poet wrote this poem to explain how life is one big memory and that eventually all you will have left of someone is the memories that you shared with them. He wanted to tell his story about how he used to spend so much time with these children only for them to grow up and only remember the stories he told them and their times with him.

Websites Used…

• Information about Lewis Carroll from:• www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/lewis-carroll • www.shmoop.com/lewis-carroll/childhood.html• www.famousauthors.org/lewis-carroll • http://shenandoahliterary.org/blog/2012/01/a-boat-beneath-a-sunny

-sky-by-lewis-carroll/• poetryfoundation.org• http://thaduncaroo.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-boat-beneath-sunny-

sky-by-lewis.html