Alice in Wonderland began as an improvised story told to a real little girl named Alice Liddell by a man named Charles Dodgson, which was the real name of Lewis Carroll. Listed below is a link to a brief biography of Lewis Carroll and links to some of his photography and writing.
Make comparisons between the words and the images in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, using the following questions as a guide. Use the Venn diagram, available in PDF or MarcoPolo interactive forms, to make notes of your comparison.
Explore the images of childhood as portrayed by the Romantic-era William Blake, a printer and poet who was born several decades before Lewis Carroll. William Blake published these poems and images in 1789 and 1794 (Innocence and Experience, respectively, as seen at the Blake Archive chronology). Carroll's Alice, on the other hand, was published originally in 1865.
Note that each 'plate' opens in an interactive window that allows zooming and panning. The "Compare" button below the image enables users to compare the versions of Blake's plates (each is distinct). On the left, below the image, a drop-down menu labeled "Show Me..." has several options for viewing, including a larger static image of the plate and a transcript of the poem (for easier reading).
Spend time looking at the different versions of various Blake poems, some of which are grouped in 'pairs' (with one in Innocence and one in Experience, such as "The Lamb" and "The Tyger"). As you focus on a specific poem, consider the following questions: