Haddocks' Eyes
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Haddocks' Eyes is a poem by Lewis Carroll from Through the Looking-Glass. It is sung by the White Knight in chapter eight to the tune that he claims to be his own invention, but which Alice recognizes as I give thee all, I can no more.
By the time Alice heard it, she was already getting tired of poetry.
It is a parody of Resolution and Independence by William Wordsworth.
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[edit] Naming
The White Knight explains the rather confusing naming for the song.
- The song's name is called Haddocks' Eyes
- The song's name really is The Aged Aged Man
- The song is called Ways and Means
- The song really is A-sitting On a Gate
This complicated set of names has been used as a metaphor for the use–mention distinction.
[edit] The Poem
- I'll tell thee everything I can:
- There's little to relate.
- I saw an aged aged man,
- A-sitting on a gate.
- "Who are you, aged man?" I said,
- "And how is it you live?"
- And his answer trickled through my head,
- Like water through a sieve.
- He said "I look for butterflies
- That sleep among the wheat:
- I make them into mutton-pies,
- And sell them in the street.
- I sell them unto men," he said,
- "Who sail on stormy seas;
- And that's the way I get my bread --
- A trifle, if you please."
- But I was thinking of a plan
- To dye one's whiskers green,
- And always use so large a fan
- That they could not be seen.
- So, having no reply to give
- To what the old man said,
- I cried "Come, tell me how you live!"
- And thumped him on the head.
- His accents mild took up the tale:
- He said "I go my ways,
- And when I find a mountain-rill,
- I set it in a blaze;
- And thence they make a stuff they call
- Rowlands' Macassar-Oil --
- Yet twopence-halfpenny is all
- They give me for my toil."
- But I was thinking of a way
- To feed oneself on batter,
- And so go on from day to day
- Getting a little fatter.
- I shook him well from side to side,
- Until his face was blue:
- "Come, tell me how you live," I cried,
- "And what it is you do!"
- He said "I hunt for haddocks' eyes
- Among the heather bright,
- And work them into waistcoat-buttons
- In the silent night.
- And these I do not sell for gold
- Or coin of silvery shine,
- But for a copper halfpenny,
- And that will purchase nine.
- "I sometimes dig for buttered rolls,
- Or set limed twigs for crabs:
- I sometimes search the grassy knolls
- For wheels of Hansom-cabs.
- And that's the way" (he gave a wink)
- "By which I get my wealth--
- And very gladly will I drink
- Your Honour's noble health."
- I heard him then, for I had just
- Completed my design
- To keep the Menai bridge from rust
- By boiling it in wine.
- I thanked him much for telling me
- The way he got his wealth,
- But chiefly for his wish that he
- Might drink my noble health.
- And now, if e'er by chance I put
- My fingers into glue,
- Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot
- Into a left-hand shoe,
- Or if I drop upon my toe
- A very heavy weight,
- I weep, for it reminds me so
- Of that old man I used to know--
- Whose look was mild, whose speech was slow
- Whose hair was whiter than the snow,
- Whose face was very like a crow,
- With eyes, like cinders, all aglow,
- Who seemed distracted with his woe,
- Who rocked his body to and fro,
- And muttered mumblingly and low,
- As if his mouth were full of dough,
- Who snorted like a buffalo--
- That summer evening long ago,
- A-sitting on a gate.
[edit] Upon the Lonely Moor
In 1856, Carroll published the following poem anonymously under the name Upon the Lonely Moor. The two poems are quite obviously related.
- I met an aged, aged man
- Upon the lonely moor:
- I knew I was a gentleman,
- And he was but a boor.
- So I stopped and roughly questioned him,
- "Come, tell me how you live!"
- But his words impressed my ear no more
- Than if it were a sieve.
- He said, "I look for soap-bubbles,
- That lie among the wheat,
- And bake them into mutton-pies,
- And sell them in the street.
- I sell them unto men," he said,
- "Who sail on stormy seas;
- And that's the way I get my bread -
- A trifle, if you please."
- But I was thinking of a way
- To multiply by ten,
- And always, in the answer, get
- The question back again.
- I did not hear a word he said,
- But kicked that old man calm,
- And said, "Come, tell me how you live!"
- And pinched him in the arm.
- His accents mild took up the tale:
- He said, "I go my ways,
- And when I find a mountain-rill,
- I set it in a blaze.
- And thence they make a stuff they call
- Rowland's Macassar Oil;
- But fourpence-halfpenny is all
- They give me for my toil."
- But I was thinking of a plan
- To paint one's gaiters green,
- So much the color of the grass
- That they could ne'er be seen.
- I gave his ear a sudden box,
- And questioned him again,
- And tweaked his grey and reverend locks,
- And put him into pain.
- He said, "I hunt for haddock's eyes
- Among the heather bright,
- And work them into waistcoat-buttons
- In the silent night.
- And these I do not sell for gold,
- Or coin or silver-mine,
- But for a copper-halfpenny,
- And that will purchase nine.
- "I sometimes dig for buttered rolls,
- Or set limed twigs for crabs;
- I sometimes search the flowery knolls
- For wheels of hansom cabs.
- And that's the way" (he gave a wink)
- "I get my living here,
- And very gladly will I drink
- Your Honour's health in beer."
- I heard him then, for I had just
- Completed my design
- To keep the Menai bridge from rust
- By boiling it in wine.
- I duly thanked him, ere I went,
- For all his stories queer,
- But chiefly for his kind intent
- To drink my health in beer.
- And now if e'er by chance I put
- My fingers into glue,
- Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot
- Into a left-hand shoe;
- Or if a statement I aver
- Of which I am not sure,
- I think of that strange wanderer
- Upon the lonely moor.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
- The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner ISBN 0-7139-9417-7
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