A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky Analysis

“A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” In the poem “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky,” Lewis Carroll talked about the boat ride that he went on with his friend, Alice, and her sisters (Popova). On this boat ride, he told the children about the story of Wonderland, which later inspired his book called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Popova). This poem reflected the loss of Carroll 's loved one. As Alice grew up, she is not naïve and optimistic like she used to be when was a little girl. As a result, Carroll was disheartened by her transition into adulthood because he adored the childlike image of Alice in her childhood. In a broader sense, Carroll encourages people to enjoy the times of youth because it is short, and they can do anything they want without …show more content…
To create his message, Carroll uses diction, transition in time, structure, and metaphor to help the readers understand his viewpoint. In other words, Carroll uses diction in his poem to explain how the shift in tone makes him disappointed when Alice has grown up. The tone of the first and second stanza is enthusiastic and warmhearted because Carroll and the children are on a boat ride on a beautiful summer day. However, the tone changes unexpectedly in the third stanza; words like “die,” “fade,” and “slain” show a gloomy and mournful tone that some awful things had happened.
This stanza demonstrates that Carroll was heartbreaking because Alice has changed, and he adored the imagination and innocence of her childhood self. In the fourth stanza, Carroll …show more content…
The ending metaphor states “Life, what is it but a dream?” relates the boat to life and call life “a dream.” Basically, life is a dream because people tend to forget about beautiful childhood memories as they get older. The cold truth is that everyone becomes an adult and forgets the innocence of their childhood. The poem was Carroll’s way of contemplating his feeling of loss and heartbroken memory since Alice had grown up. Beside, Carroll does not only use a metaphor, but he is also asking the reader the meaning of life and the importance of memories in everyday life. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice falls asleep while she was reading a book next to her sister. In her sleep, she entered the wonderland world by falling down the rabbit hole (Geddes). The rabbit also guides her throughout her adventures in the fantasy world. Eventually, Alice woke up and realized everything is just a dream. In the book, Carroll depicts a unique world that is perfect for children who love to dream about the fantasy world. Everyone loves to dream about things that they could not obtain in life. Children are very adorable because everything about them even their dreams are innocent and naïve. Everyone grows up and leaves behind all the wonderful things in their childhood, and the sad truth is that everyone changes. The lack of responsibility is what children enjoy. During childhood, children do not