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Definition: Carroll, Lewis from Philip's Encyclopedia

(Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) British mathematician, photographer and children's writer. An Oxford don, much of his output consisted of mathematical textbooks. He is more widely remembered for the whimsical novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass (1872). Along with his poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876), they have attracted much serious scholarly criticism.


Carroll, Lewis

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
English author of the children's classics Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872). Among later works was the mock-heroic narrative poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876). He was a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University from 1855 until 1881 and also published mathematical works. Dodgson first told his fantasy stories to Alice Liddell and her sisters, daughters of the dean of Christ Church, Oxford University. His two Alice books brought ‘nonsense’ literature to a peak of excellence, and continue to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. Dodgson was a prolific letter writer and one of the pioneers of portrait photography (his sitters included John Ruskin, Alfred Tennyson, and D G Rossetti, as well as children). He was also responsible, in his publication of mathematical games and problems requiring the use of logic, for a general upsurge of interest in such pastimes. He is said to be, after Shakespeare, the…
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Full text Article Carroll, Lewis (pseud. of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

From Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature
With the publication in 1865 of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland , Carroll single-handedly transformed the nature of CHILDREN’s LITERATURE in England. Before Alice , children’s books were almost entirely either primers intended to encourage the learning of reading and writing, or else (with rare…
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Full text Article Lewis Carroll (1832–1898)

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Beware the Jabberwock, my son! Alice Through the Looking-Glass ch. 1 But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day, / If your Snark be a Boojum! For then / You will softly and suddenly vanish away, / And never be met with again! Hunting of the Snark Fit 3, ‘The Baker's Tale’ A cat may look at a king. …
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Full text Article EXPLANATIONS

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
I do loathe explanations. BARRIE, Sir J. M. My Lady Nicotine (1890). ‘Why,’ said the Dodo,‘the best way to explain it is to do it.’ CARROLL, Lewis Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). ‘I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir,’ said Alice,‘because I’m not myself, you see.’‘I don’t see,’ s... …
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Full text Article CURIOSITY

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. BACON, Francis The Advancement of Learning (1605). One should try everything once, except incest and folk-dancing. BAX, Sir Arnold Farewell my Youth (1943). …
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Full text Article LAW

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
You have been acquitted by a Limerick jury and you may now leave the dock without any other stain on your character. In Healy , The Old Munster Circuit . One of the Seven was wont to say:‘That laws were like cobwebs; where the small flies were caught, and the great brake through.’ BACON, Francis…
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Full text Article BELIEF

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
A belief is not true because it is useful. AMIEL, Henri-Frédéric Journal , 1876. So long as there are earnest believers in the world, they will always wish to punish opinions, even if their judgement tells them it is unwise, and their conscience that it is wrong. BAGEHOT, Walter Literary Studies…
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Tweedledum and Tweedledee - two individuals or groups that can scarcely be distinguished - was a description first applied to the musicians George Frederick Handel ( 1685-1759 ) and Giovanni Bononcini ( 1670-1747 ), when a rivalry arose between them. The probable first occurrence is in an epigram by…
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Full text Article CHILDREN

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
It was no wonder that people were so horrible when they started life as children. AMIS, Kingsley One Fat Englishman (1963). Only those in the last stages of disease could believe that children are true judges of character. AUDEN, W. H. The Orators (1932). …
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Full text Article Lewis Carroll, c.1870 (b/w photo)

From Bridgeman Images: The Bridgeman Art Library
Lewis Carroll, c.1870 (b/w photo)
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Full text Article BOOKS

From Collins Dictionary of Quotations
Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered. AUDEN, W. H. The Dyer’s Hand (1963). Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read but not curiously; and some…
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