Snark (Lewis Carroll)
Encyclopedia
The Snark is a fictional animal species
created by Lewis Carroll
in his nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark
. His descriptions of the creature were, in his own words, unimaginable, and he wanted that to remain so.
Martin Gardner
has suggested it is a portmanteau word and mentions several combinations of words that may be its origin, including snail
and shark
, snake
and shark, snarl
and bark
, etc. No support for any of this can be found in Lewis Carroll's writings.
Lewis Carroll was asked repeatedly to explain the Snark. Martin Gardner
lists five examples that are on record. In all of them, Carroll's answer is that he does not know himself, that he cannot explain.
The taste of the snark is meager and hollow, but crisp (apparently like a coat that is too tight in the waist), with a flavour of Will-o-the-wisp. It is sometimes served with greens. It also sleeps late into the day. While the snark is very ambitious, and has very little sense of humor, it is very fond of bathing-machines
, and constantly carries them about wherever it goes. It is also handy for striking a light; the Annotated Snark suggests that this could mean either that its skin is useful for striking matches
on, or that it breathes fire.
The domain of the snark is an island filled with chasms and crags, very distant from England
. On the same island may also be found other creatures such as the Jubjub
and Bandersnatch
. The snark is a peculiar creature that cannot be captured in a commonplace way. Above all, courage is required during a snark hunt. The most common method is to seek it with thimbles, care, forks, and hope. One may also "threaten its life with a railway share" or "charm it with smiles and soap".
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
created by Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
in his nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...
. His descriptions of the creature were, in his own words, unimaginable, and he wanted that to remain so.
The origin of the poem
According to Carroll, the initial inspiration to write the poem – which he called an agony in eight fits – was the final verse For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
has suggested it is a portmanteau word and mentions several combinations of words that may be its origin, including snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
and shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
, snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
and shark, snarl
Snarl
A snarl is a facial expression, where the upper lip is raised, and the nostrils widen, generally indicating hate, anger or pain. In addition to humans, other mammals including monkeys and dogs snarl, often to warn others of their potential bite. In humans, snarling uses the levator labii...
and bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
, etc. No support for any of this can be found in Lewis Carroll's writings.
Lewis Carroll was asked repeatedly to explain the Snark. Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
lists five examples that are on record. In all of them, Carroll's answer is that he does not know himself, that he cannot explain.
Descriptions of the snark
The poem describes several varieties of snark. Some have feathers and bite, and some have whiskers and scratch. The "boojum" is a particular variety of snark, which causes any who meet it to "softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again."The taste of the snark is meager and hollow, but crisp (apparently like a coat that is too tight in the waist), with a flavour of Will-o-the-wisp. It is sometimes served with greens. It also sleeps late into the day. While the snark is very ambitious, and has very little sense of humor, it is very fond of bathing-machines
Bathing machine
The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, possibly change into swimwear and then wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea...
, and constantly carries them about wherever it goes. It is also handy for striking a light; the Annotated Snark suggests that this could mean either that its skin is useful for striking matches
Match
A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...
on, or that it breathes fire.
The domain of the snark is an island filled with chasms and crags, very distant from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. On the same island may also be found other creatures such as the Jubjub
Jubjub bird
The Jubjub bird is a dangerous creature mentioned in Lewis Carroll's nonsense poems Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark.In Jabberwocky the only detail given about the bird is that the protagonist should "beware" it. In The Hunting of the Snark however the creature is described in much greater...
and Bandersnatch
Bandersnatch
A Bandersnatch is a fictional creature from Lewis Carroll's 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass and 1874 poem "The Hunting of the Snark". Although neither poem describes the appearance of a Bandersnatch in great detail, in "The Hunting of the Snark" it has a long neck and snapping jaws, and both...
. The snark is a peculiar creature that cannot be captured in a commonplace way. Above all, courage is required during a snark hunt. The most common method is to seek it with thimbles, care, forks, and hope. One may also "threaten its life with a railway share" or "charm it with smiles and soap".
See also
- SM-62 SnarkSM-62 Snark-External links:** Air Force Magazine article about a Snark that was test-fired and rumored to have been found in Brazil** detailed article on Snark and the USAF school to train personnel for it...
- https://sites.google.com/site/lewiscarrollillustratedsnark/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunting_of_the_Snark_(musical)