'Tis the Voice of the Lobster


"'Tis the Voice of the Lobster" is a poem by Lewis Carroll that appears in of his 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is recited by Alice to the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon.

Analysis

"'Tis the Voice of the Lobster" is a parody of "", a moralistic poem by Isaac Watts which was well known in Carroll's day. "The Sluggard" depicts the unsavory lifestyle of a slothful individual as a negative example. Carroll's lobster's corresponding vice is that he is weak and cannot back up his boasts, and is consequently easy prey. This fits the pattern of the predatory parody poems in the two Alice books.

Text

Published version

As published in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland :
"but her head was so full of the Lobster Quadrille, that she hardly knew what she was saying..."

'Tis the voice of the lobster; I heard him declare,
"You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.


I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
How the owl and the oyster were sharing a pie—

Expanded version

In 1886, Carroll wrote an altered and expanded version of the poem for the first theatrical adaptation of Alice. A manuscript signed and dated 31 October 1886 reads:

'Tis the voice of the Lobster, I heard him declare
"You have baked me too brown: I must sugar my hair."
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt & his buttons, & turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and Sharks are around,
His voice has a timid & tremulous sound.
I passed by his garden, & marked with one eye
How the Owl & the Panther were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, & gravy, & meat,
While the Owl got the dish as his share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife & fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by eating the Owl.