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'''Humpty Dumpty''' is a fictional character from the novel ''[[Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There]]'' by [[Lewis Carroll]]. He is based upon a traditonal English nursery rhyme of the same name. |
'''Humpty Dumpty''' is a fictional character from the novel ''[[Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There]]'' by [[Lewis Carroll]]. He is based upon a traditonal English nursery rhyme of the same name. |
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Revision as of 03:11, 27 September 2009
Illustration by Sir John Tenniel.
Humpty Dumpty is a fictional character from the novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. He is based upon a traditonal English nursery rhyme of the same name.
Nursery Rhyme
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses,
And all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
Origin of the Phrase
Brewer's Dictionary explains Humpty Dumpty as being a corruption of "humped and dumpy" and defines it as another name for an egg.[1]
Description
Humpty Dumpty grows from an egg that Alice purchases from the Sheep's curiosity shop at the end of Chapter 5. He perches himself atop a nearby wall and begins instructing her (nonsensically, of course) in matters of grammar and semantics. After reciting a poem, which he explains "was written entirely for (Alice's) amusement," he promptly says, "Goodbye," and shakes her hand in parting. She add, "...till we meet again," but Dumpty explains that he cannot recognize faces and would not know her should he see her a second time. He then closes his eyes and grows silent. After waiting for him to speak again, Alice walks away and Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall and breaks. He is listed in Through the Looking-Glass' dramatis personae as the Red Queen's rook.[2]