 | Collected poems |  |
576
A PROEM
['Tis two-score years since Carroll's art]
'Tis two-score years since Carroll's art,
With topsy-turvy magic,
Sent Alice wandering through a part
Half-comic and half-tragic.
With topsy-turvy magic,
Sent Alice wandering through a part
Half-comic and half-tragic.
Enchanting Alice! Black-and-white
Has made your charm perennial;
And nought save “Chaos and old Night”
Can part you now from Tenniel;
Has made your charm perennial;
And nought save “Chaos and old Night”
Can part you now from Tenniel;
But still you are a Type, and based
In Truth, like Lear and Hamlet;
And Types may be re-draped to taste
In cloth of gold or camlet.
In Truth, like Lear and Hamlet;
And Types may be re-draped to taste
In cloth of gold or camlet.
Here comes a fresh Costumier then;
That Taste may gain a wrinkle
From him who drew with such deft pen
The rags of Rip van Winkle.
That Taste may gain a wrinkle
From him who drew with such deft pen
The rags of Rip van Winkle.
1907.
| Collected poems | |