All in the Golden Afternoon Lyrics
Lewis Carroll's poem that opens Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, first published in 1865, remembers a summer boat trip and the three sisters who asked him for a story. It is not the song from the 1951 Disney film, which has different words.
All in the Golden Afternoon
All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.
Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?
Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict "to begin it" -
In gentler tone Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it!"
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.
Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast -
And half believe it true.
And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"The rest next time -" "It is next time!"
The happy voices cry.
Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out-
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.
Alice! a childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's withered wreath of flowers
Pluck'd in a far-off land.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/all-in-the-golden-afternoon/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Lewis Carroll
- First published
- 1865
- Tune
- Read aloud, slowly and warmly, like a bedtime verse
- Best for ages
- 4 to 10 years
What Does All in the Golden Afternoon Mean?
The poem is a little story about how a story was made. Three children are in a rowing boat on a warm afternoon. Their oars are pulled by little arms with little skill, and the little hands only pretend to guide the boat. The speaker is the storyteller, and the children all beg him for a tale, though his breath is too weak to stir the tiniest feather.
The three girls are named with Latin numbers: Prima means first, Secunda second and Tertia third. Prima is bossy: her edict, which means her order, is that he must begin. Secunda hopes there will be some nonsense in it. Tertia keeps interrupting, but not more than once a minute.
Then the children go quiet and follow the dream-child into a land of wonders, where she chats with birds and beasts. When the storyteller grows tired and tries to stop, they cry The rest next time and the answer is It is next time! So the tale, the poem says, grew slowly, one piece at a time, and was hammered out, which means shaped bit by bit. At sunset they row home, and the last stanza hands the finished story to Alice: take this childish story and lay it among your childhood dreams, like a pilgrim's faded wreath of flowers picked in a far-off land.
History and Origin
The poem opens Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which was first published in 1865. The text on this page is from the sixth thousand printing by Macmillan in London, dated 1867. Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, who taught mathematics at Oxford.
It recalls a real afternoon. On 4 July 1862, Dodgson went on a boat trip on the river near Oxford with the three Liddell sisters, and as they rowed he told them the story that became the book. The girls in the poem, Prima, Secunda and Tertia, are those three sisters, and Alice Liddell, the second of them, is the Alice of the last stanza.
Learning Activities
- Read it slowly: read one stanza a night aloud, pausing at the quotations so the three sisters' voices can be heard.
- Three voices: three children read the lines of Prima, Secunda and Tertia while an adult reads the rest.
- Tell a boat story: sit together and make up a story a few sentences at a time, passing it on at 'The rest next time'.
- Row together: sit on the floor, row with big slow arms and read the first two stanzas to the rhythm.