Readings from the Pavilion End

S5 Ep 5: You Are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll


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It is the start of April, and we begin the month with a nonsensical poem to celebrate April Fools. Lewis Carroll's "Father William" was first published in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 in a scene where Alice recites this poem to the Caterpillar. Presented as a whimsical exchange between a boy and Father William, an elderly man whose actions defy conventional expectations of aging, the poem is actually a parody of Robert Southey's didactic poem "The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them", originally published in 1799.

 

You might also enjoy S4 Ep 3 The Walrus and the Carpenter, also by Lewis Carroll.

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Readings from the Pavilion EndBy Bill Ricquier