A series of poems based on Alice in Wonderland in a variety of styles

Klaybor, Mary Katherine

English

Digital Commons @ Butler University

 1  Poems in Wonderland      Mary Katherine Klaybor South Bend, Indiana   2     Chapter 1 (Haikus)   Down the Rabbit Hole Alice fell and fell and fell Into Wonderland   Follow the Rabbit Alice grows and then she shrinks  To get through the door                        3  Chapter 2 (Limerick – follows some rules)  “Curiouser and Curiouser” she cries as she grows Soon her tears filled the hall all the way to her nose She meets the Rabbit who drops his gloves She talks about Dinah, the cat she loves Then thinks, “I’ll follow the mouse wherever it goes”                         4      Chapter 3 (Quatrain)  The Dodo suggests a caucus race The mouse begins to tell his long and sad tale Alice seems confused, as she often is She talks of Dinah again and the animals bail                            5 Chapter 4 (Rhyme)  The Rabbit mistakes Alice for Mary Ann He asks her to fetch his gloves and fan She wants to try and hopes she can  She drinks from a bottle and then she grows Alice is so big now from her head to her toes How she can escape the house nobody knows  To get Alice out they send in Bill Get her out, the Rabbit hopes he will It’s no use, Alice is stuck still  She starts to shrink when she eats the little cake Maybe all this eating and drinking is a mistake One that she will continue to make           6  Chapter 5 ( Free verse)  “Who are you?” is the question of the day Alice seems confused, once again She has changed herself several times since breakfast Falling down the rabbit hole can do that to a person  The caterpillar asks again “WHO are you?” Alice is puzzled  This question holds true to everyone Who.  Are.  You.  We all are unique, 7 billion people in all “Who are you?” is a fitting question Are you a child? A dreamer? A smoking caterpillar? Perhaps you are a sister? A White Rabbit?   Those three words: Who. Are. You? Unlock the stories of humanity But as for Alice, they only leave her… Puzzled.    7       Chapter 6 (ABC poem)  Alice enters inside Baby cries, loudly sneezes Cheshire-cat grins mysteriously Duchess sings tunes weirdly The baby turns into a pig and escapes                    8    Chapter 7 (Acrostic)  Table without room Everyone trapped at tea time Alice does not understand  Pastries and tea, but not any wine Another strange story told by a creature Riddles without answers Time is revealed to be a him, not an it Yawning is a sign the March Hare is tired              9      Chapter 8 (Haikus)   The Queen loves croquet Roses supposed to be red The cards fear the Queen    Croquet is alive “Off with her head” shouts the Queen  The Cheshire-Cat grins                10     Chapter 9 (Unrhymed Couplets)  The Mock Turtle began to weave his sorrowful tale as he sobbed, and Alice was confused once again    A moral is present in each of the Duchess’ stories There seems to be no logic, none at all to be found                        11       Chapter 10 (Found poem)  A Lobster-Quadrille, along the sea shore “The Lobsters! The Lobsters!” Will you join the dance? Dancing round and round  A very interesting dance The adventures first, courage as she went on She began to repeat it I passed by his garden, the pie was all finished, so rich and green Beautiful Soup! Beautiful Soup!                    12 Chapter 11 (Rhyme)  Who stole the tarts? Asked the Queen of Hearts  The Knave is on trial The Queen’s in denial  Alice, she grows What’s happening nobody knows  The witnesses all seem to be confused No logic seems to be used   Alice is called to testify She has no information so she wonders why             13    Chapter 12 (Quatrain)  The King says Alice is not allowed She has grown again, to be a mile tall The letter is read to all of the court Alice wakes, it was a dream after all                      14 MaryKatherine Klaybor  “Poetry in Wonderland” Explained  For my “Wonderland” project, I chose to create a poetry book that relates to the text in the book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. This poetry book consists of one or two poems relating to each chapter of the text. I chose to do different poetry styles for different chapters, and for shorter poetry styles I often chose to create two poems for a single chapter.   The creativity of my project is evidenced through the fact that each poem written in my book was created by me. I based each poem loosely on the events of the corresponding “Alice” chapter, but each poem was of my own creation. In addition, I chose a font style for the poems that I feel represents the tone of the text “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” When creating the poetry book, I played around with many font choices, and several spacing options, trying to decide what format would best present my poems. I eventually decided on the “Bradley Hand” font for the text and I chose the color navy for the text, except in my acrostic poem where I highlighted the letters forming the acrostic by coloring those letters red. I chose this font because it seemed somewhat whimsical but was still legible, and this fit with the theme of the text. I chose navy because it was a legible shade of blue, and I chose blue because Alice is best known for the blue dress she wears in the 1951 Disney version of the film.   This project was of personal interest to me because I enjoy writing poetry. I liked taking the ideas presented in the text of the book and turning them into something of my own creation. When I was in elementary and middle school I liked writing poetry and even song lyrics, and I wanted to try my hand at doing so for this project. Even in high school I took a creative writing class where I mainly focused on poetry, but for my classes so far in college I do not really get the  15 opportunity to use poetry for any assignments. In addition, I do not often have enough free time to simply sit and write poems for enjoyment. Therefore, this project is of personal interest to me because I was able to sit down and take the time to do something I enjoy, that I do not often get to spend time doing,  The subject matter presented in my poetry book directly relates to the themes and events of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” This is evidenced through each poem, as the content in each relates to the events of its corresponding chapter. While the entirety of the chapter is not shown in each poem, events that I deemed significant or interesting, appear in my poems. I feel that the text was represented in my poems and my project overall connects very well with the themes and ideas in the text by Lewis Carroll.  Finally, this project connects with the goals associated with the Butler University Honors Program. More specifically, I feel that my project connects very well with the goal of “research and creativity.” I have already highlighted the creative aspects of my project, but I think it is important to note that this project was not purely creative; my project does contain structure and it required research. Before starting my poetry book, I researched poetry types from several websites so that my project could contain variety. I was previously familiar with poetry styles such as haikus, found poems, acrostics, and free verse poems but other types required me to do some research. I wanted to ensure that my poems followed the rules of their poetry form, and in order to do so I needed to first learn the rules. By researching various poetry types, I was able to diversify my poetry book and showcase my writing skills in various ways. Overall, I believe that my project aligns well with the Honors goal of “research and creativity.”    16 Works Cited Alex2424121. “Alice” The Disney Wiki, http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Alice  Hess, Gary R. “Types of Poems.” Poem of Quotes, Westbourne International LLC, 25 Jan. 2018, http://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/poetry_forms.php          

Poems in Wonderland

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5768&amp;context=wordways

Poems in Wonderland

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Commons @ Butler University