The Bellman carrying the Banker "by a finger entwined in his hair"

"But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day"

Discover best deals on many one of a kind collectible sports memorabilia with great savings! Lots to chose from; Boxing, Football and more.

Signed Boots

Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a nonsense poem about a group of adventurers hunting a legendary beast. more...

Home

Autographs (Original)

European Players/ Clubs

Lower Division Players/...

Other Signed Cards

Premiership Players/ Clubs

Retired Players

Scottish Players/ Clubs

European Players/ Clubs

Lower Division Players/...

Other Signed Photos

Premiership Players/ Clubs

Retired Players

Scottish Players/ Clubs

Signed Prints

Signed Programmes

Signed Shirts

European Players/ Clubs

Lower Division Players/...

Other Signed Shirts

Premiership Players/ Clubs

Retired Players

Scottish Players/ Clubs

Signed Trading Cards

Autographs (Pre-Printed)

Clocks

Fanzines/ Journals/...

Figures (Corinthians)

Magnets

Menus

Other Football Memorabilia

Posters

Rugs

Scarves

Tickets/ Stubs

Towels

Trading Cards/ Stickers

Watches

Horse Racing Memorabilia

Ice Hockey Memorabilia

Motor Sport Memorabilia

Olympic Memorabilia

Other

Other Sports Memorabilia

Rugby League Memorabilia

Rugby Union Memorabilia

Subbuteo

Tennis Memorabilia

Wrestling Memorabilia

It borrows occasionally from Carroll's short poem \"Jabberwocky\" in Through the Looking Glass, (especially the poem's creatures and portmanteau words), but it is a stand-alone work, first published in 1876 by Macmillan. The illustrations were by Henry Holiday.

Cast of characters

The group is led by a Bellman as explained in Fit the First, third verse, and consists otherwise of a Boots, a maker of Bonnets and Hoods, a Barrister, a Billiard-marker, a Banker, a Butcher who can only kill beavers, a forgetful Baker, a Broker, and a Beaver. Care was also landed with the crew (as indicated in the first stanza). Hope, necessary for the pursuit of the elusive snark, also came along. The Boots is the only character who is not shown in any illustration, and is thus the most mysterious member of the crew (see below). As an alternate theory, some have suggested that the character identified as \"Care\" below is really the ship's figurehead (as shown in the first illustration), and that \"Hope\" is actually the Boots. Andrew Lang, who reviewed the book in 1876, suggested that \"Hope\" might be the Bonnet-maker. But this is clearly incorrect, since a shadowy figure making bonnets can be seen on the ship in the second illustration.

Plot summary

After crossing the sea guided by the Bellman's map of the Ocean — a blank sheet of paper — the hunting party arrive in a strange land. The Baker recalls that his uncle once warned him that, though catching Snarks was all well and good, you must be careful; for, if your Snark is a Boojum, then \"you will softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again.\" With this in mind, they split up to hunt. Along the way, the Butcher and Beaver become fast friends, the Barrister falls asleep, and the Banker loses his sanity after being attacked by a frumious Bandersnatch. At the end, the Baker calls out that he has found a snark; but when the others arrive he has mysteriously disappeared.

Structure

The poem has some aspects characteristic of much of Carroll's poetry; it utilizes technically adept meter and rhyme, grammatically correct phrasing, logical chains of events — and largely nonsensical content, frequently employing made-up words such as \"Snark\". It is by far his longest poem — unlike Alice which is prose with occasional poems within the text, the Snark rhymes from start to end. The poem is divided into eight sections or \"fits\" (a pun on the archaic word \"fitt\" meaning a part of a song, and \"fit\" meaning a convulsion):