The Hunting of the Snark

The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. It describes 'with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature'. The poem borrows occasionally from Carroll's short poem 'Jabberwocky' in Through the Looking Glass (especially the poem's creatures and portmanteau words), but it is a stand alone work, first published in 1876 by Macmillan. The illustrations were by Henry Holiday.