Jabberwocky and Other Poems

by Lewis Carroll

Mathematician, author, photographer, and artist, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–1898) is best known as the creator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , but he was also a prolific poet. Over the course of almost 50 years, he created 150 poems, including nonsense verse, parodies, burlesques, acrostics, inscriptions, and more, many of them hilarious lampoons of some of the more sentimental and moralistic poems of the Victorian era.
This carefully chosen collection contains 38 of Carroll's most appealing verses, including such classics as "The Walrus and the Carpenter," "The Mock Turtle's Song," and "Father William," plus such lesser-known gems as "My Fancy," "A Sea Dirge," "Brother and Sister," "Hiawatha's Photographing," "The Mad Gardener's Song," "What Tottles Meant," "Poeta Fit, non Nascitur," "The Little Man That Had a Little Gun," and many others.
Filled with Carroll's special brand of imaginative whimsy and clever wordplay, this original anthology will delight fans of the author as well as other readers who relish a little laughter with their lyrics.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, 19th Century, Literature

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman 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 Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense.

Oxford scholar, Church of England Deacon, University Lecturer in Mathematics and Logic, academic author of learned theses, gifted pioneer of portrait photography, colourful writer of imaginative genius and yet a shy and pedantic man, Lewis Carroll stands pre-eminent in the pantheon of inventive literary geniuses.

He also has works published under his real name.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

my becoming-a-genius project, part 21!

the background:
i have decided to become a genius.

to accomplish this, i'm going to work my way through the collected stories of various authors, reading + reviewing 1 story every day until i get bored / lose every single follower / am struck down by a vengeful deity.

my favorite book on earth is alice's adventures in wonderland, and my favorite editions on earth are the penguin clothbound classics, so this installment seems like a match made in heaven.

emphasis on seems.

regardless, more books should add "and other nonsense" to the end of their titles.

PROJECT 1: THE COMPLETE STORIES BY FLANNERY O'CONNOR
PROJECT 2: HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES BY CARMEN MARIA MACHADO
PROJECT 3: 18 BEST STORIES BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
PROJECT 4: THE LOTTERY AND OTHER STORIES BY SHIRLEY JACKSON
PROJECT 5: HOW LONG 'TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH? BY N.K. JEMISIN
PROJECT 6: THE SHORT STORIES OF OSCAR WILDE BY OSCAR WILDE
PROJECT 7: THE BLUE FAIRY BOOK BY ANDREW LANG
PROJECT 8: GRAND UNION: STORIES BY ZADIE SMITH
PROJECT 9: THE BEST OF ROALD DAHL BY ROALD DAHL
PROJECT 10: LOVE AND FREINDSHIP BY JANE AUSTEN
PROJECT 11: HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD BY OTTESSA MOSHFEGH
PROJECT 12: BAD FEMINIST BY ROXANE GAY
PROJECT 12.5: DIFFICULT WOMEN BY ROXANE GAY
PROJECT 13: THE SHORT NOVELS OF JOHN STEINBECK
PROJECT 14: FIRST PERSON SINGULAR BY HARUKI MURAKAMI
PROJECT 15: THE ORIGINAL FOLK AND FAIRY TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM
PROJECT 16: A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN BY LUCIA BERLIN
PROJECT 17: SELECTED STORIES OF PHILIP K. DICK
PROJECT 18: HIGH LONESOME: SELECTED STORIES BY JOYCE CAROL OATES
PROJECT 19: THE SHORT STORIES OF ANTON CHEKHOV
PROJECT 20: COLLECTED STORIES OF COLETTE
PROJECT 21: JABBERWOCKY AND OTHER NONSENSE: COLLECTED POEMS BY LEWIS CARROLL

DAY 1: USEFUL AND INSTRUCTIVE POETRY
awesome. i love to learn, and i imagine i love to learn even more if i'm learning in the style of a 19th century tween reading a weird magazine.
these all come with morals which is fun. more things should be more straightforward in my opinion. and sometimes the morals are just random phrases, like, "a present from Croft." and you're like, okay, i mean i guess he did warn me this was going to be nonsense.
add one that's just making fun of shakespeare and we're in for quite a ride.
rating: 3.5

DAY 2: THE RECTORY MAGAZINE
tiny chunk today, which is ideal as i am working with a tiny chunk of time.
very funny to picture the churchgoers picking up the rectory magazine expecting, like, jesus stuff, and just..."ugh. rector charles is writing his weird poems again."
rating: 3.5

DAY 3: THE RECTORY UMBRELLA
okay, so i missed a couple days. a few, even. see the WHOLE OTHER PROJECT I'M DOING SIMULTANEOUSLY for my various excuses.
now we are arriving at the actual nonsense, which for right now is just real words spelled weird.
there are also footnotes now which are very funny. i think if lewis carroll absolutely had to be okay with having his dumb silly poems explained, he would've been pleased to know the explanations were goofy.
rating: 3.5

DAY 4: MISCHMASCH
cutest funnest name.
realizing today is world poetry day, and i should have just pretended i skipped former days in order to celebrate as thoroughly as possible. oh well.
a poem in this has the word "muggle" in it. i am suing joanne rowling for every penny she is worth.
ah the first stanza of jabberwocky is in here! is there a better nonsense word in history than "mimsy"? doubtful.
rating: 3.5

DAY 5: OTHER EARLY VERSE
mercifully, all three of these are relatively short. i don't deserve this but i do need it. like batman, or reverse batman, i can't remember.
i am now also eating cake and drinking tea while reading, and feeling very alice-like.
"Noodle dumb / Has a noodle-head / I hate such noodles, I do." what a way with words. gotta love poetry.
and the last poem is about how cops are terrible at their jobs. lewis carroll said ACAB.
rating: 3.5

DAY 6: ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
i f*ckin' love the poetry from alice. for years i had the row row row your boat mnemonic poem memorized and i would doodle it in the margins of my notes in classes, because i am very cool and normal.
that one is not in this section since it's from through the looking-glass, but this ruled all the same.
i'm so far past due for a reread.
rating: 5

DAY 7: PHANTASMAGORIA
today's section is over 100 pages long and that's not what any of this is about. desperate times, desperate measures: we're dividing willy-nilly again.
this poem is a little ghost postulating on the rules of the ghost lifestyle and as such i love it.
rating: 4

DAY 8: ...AND OTHER POEMS
in case you were wondering if i would have to endure a thousand-page long political poem before getting to part 2 of ghost antics: yes, and are you psychic?
AND THEN IT WAS ULTIMATELY CORNY ANGEL STUFF. GOD.
at least we got a little liddell sisters mention. hehe. little liddell.
didn't have much fun with this one today. even if there WAS a christmas poem. these aren't nonsense, they're just cheesy.
rating: 2, maybe 2.5

DAY 9: PUZZLES FROM WONDERLAND
oh hell yeah.
today's set is like 4 pages long and wonderlandy in nature. a dream.
rating: 4

DAY 10: THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE
YAAAAAAASSSSSS.
so many heavy hitters here. the aforementioned fav acrostic. tweedle dee and tweedle dum. the titular jabberwocky. walrus and carpenter feat those super cute oysters.
5 stars exponentially!!!
rating: 5

DAY 11: OXFORD POEMS, WITH SOME MEMORIA TECHNICA
well this sounds like a casual chill vibe. a fun time. the poetry equivalent of a tropical vacation themed darty thrown by a frat.
rating: 3

DAY 12: THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK
i am having trouble focusing today (sleepiness reasons) so i'm reading this out loud to myself like i am my own small child.
can't tell if this poem is better than usual or if reading it aloud is just an exceptional idea but i'm having a blast either way.
rating: 4

DAY 13: POEMS FOR FRIENDS, INCLUDING ACROSTICS, RIDDLES, 'CHARADES,' AND A CIPHER-POEM
goddamn i hate riddles so much. they make me feel stupid constantly, and i build my life around opportunities to feel smart.
when i was a camp counselor during high school summers, i once had a camper whose entire personality was riddles and i truly had to bite my tongue not to be some weird teenager snapping on a kid. a bit of an alternate villain origin story.
let's see how this goes.
i am firmly on the "don't judge historical figures by the socio-moral standards of today" side of things, but even i wish that bachelors hadn't been on childcare duty in the nineteenth century. lewis carroll wrote too many poems to and about little girls for my reading comfort, i'll say.
not creepy. just annoying and boring.
and i still have no idea what a double-acrostic is.
rating: 2

DAY 14: SYLVIE AND BRUNO AND SYLVIE AND BRUNO CONCLUDED
these are referenced a sh*t ton in the annotated alice, so i've always kinda meant to read them. let's see how it goes.
well, now i've read all of the non-prose parts of lewis carroll's third-most and fourth-most seminal works. that's something.
rating: 3

DAY 15: LATE COLLECTIONS
just a handful more of the impenetrable confusing double acrostics written for specific small children to take us out.
rating: 3

OVERALL
lewis carroll has always been more of a one-off god-level artist of my heart than a favorite author, and reading this collection didn't change that perception for me, but it was still good to discover!
and an important reminder that i have gone far too long without reading alice.
rating: 3

[Jena · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's so much that could be said of Lewis Carroll's writing, all of which has already been said by someone else, but wow, that man can write a whimsical poem. There are definitely sections and styles of poetry in this collection that I enjoy more than others, but the overall way he manipulates form and diction truly is incredible. Even the poems I don't love are entirely unique to his writing style. You truly cannot read his work without knowing its his.

[Melcat · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a non-native English speaker, poetry can be particularly intimidating. This edition contains dozens of Carolls nonsensical poems, among them Jabberwocky and parts from Alice in Wonderland. It is a very fun and whimsical read.

Some of the non-narrative poems are still a bit hard for me to comprehend properly, but I will for sure come back to this book again later. This is out of my comfort zone, I enjoyed it immensely !

How doth the little crocodile

"How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!"

Some other favorites I highly recommend:
- His barque hath perished in the storm
- Fury said to
- Fantasmagoria (cute little ghost)
- Stanzas for Music
- Dreamland

[Théo d'Or]

I read this poem, and tremble, full of dread,

And now beasts unknown do haunt my weary head.

Beware the Grumblegore, my gentle friend,

Its growl does make the stoutest courage bend.

And shun the Frumious Snaggletooth, I pray,

For it does steal your youth and joy away.

I clutch my cloak and close my eyes in fright,

Yet still I hear their cries throughout the night.

Oh, Lewis Carroll, you have wrought this spell,

Your words does conjure fears in every cell.

Oh, Carroll, I am but a fool, your tales still haunt me, though they be so cruel.

They stir my fears, and make me cry,

But if you leave me, I will surely die.

[Jon Mowjoudi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

A memorable verse from an iconic poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter", one of Carroll's most revered works alongside the titular "Jabberwocky". It tells the story of a cunning pair - the poetic Walrus and his complementary accomplice the Carpenter - and their encounter with a rather unfortunate bunch of oysters who eventually become the pairs supper. Both aforementioned poems exemplify the skill of Carroll as a master of metre - the verses flow fluidly from the tongue of the reader, making it a great tool for engaging young children learning classic poetry in schools.

For a piece to encourage the flowing of creative juices, look no further than Jabberwocky - a 'nonsense verse' that has a very clear grammatical structure but employs the use of fantastical words that are figments of Carroll's vivid imagination, though there is no doubt the listener will be as wary as the protagonist of the "frumious Bandersnatch". All in all, this makes for an excellent collection that should be made readily available to children and young adults of all ages.

[Joe Turk · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back."

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some may find it childish, but I love, love, LOVE these poems. The Jabberwocky starts like this:

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

What’s there not to love?
My favourite verse from The Walrus and the Carpenter:

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

These poems are whimsical, nonsensical and satirical. I loved them as a child, and re-reading them, I am still enchanted.

[Mariam Abood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite poems ever just because of the fact this poem throws no punches and actually admits to being a nonsense poem. Because honestly, the amount of pretentious waffle I had to read in school and then make a profound interpretation from, just did my head in, and then this bad boy came along, and all the pretentious kids in the class were clueless because they couldn't make sense of this poem. It was so fucking funny and so brilliant.

[GoldGato · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are building little homes on the sands

And time does indeed flit away, burbling and chortling. Cheshire Charles of Carroll created such whimsical poetry, it was frabjous to read his collected poems, albeit usually in a public space with curious onlookers trying to determine exactly what was in my book. That's because I had the gorgeous clothbound edition with the knockout dragonesque design by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide

There is so much to love and marvel over with Mr. Dodgson. Snobby phantoms, mock turtles, fluttery bakers...each page a candy store of words and letters. Every time I thought I had a new favorite, but onward came the next page and memory started anew.

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope

Obviously, there are untold numbers of Lewis Carroll poetry books, so let me make a case for this specific volume. A member of the now famous Penguin Cloth Classics, it merits a place in your collection, even if you don't purchase p-books. Meticulous notes, ribbon marker, and bio plus the aforementioned cover art make this a Top-Shelf addition (and a nice little gift, if need be).

I think of that strange wanderer
Upon the lonely moor

That was Lewis Carroll, a strange wanderer in a lonely world.

Vorpal.

Book Season = Winter (when midnight mists are creeping)

[Tony Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Lewis Carroll - total genius!!

[John Naylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read and been told that Lewis Carroll was a genius and that he is one of the most important writers in history. I won't disagree with the people who think this. I just have a different viewpoint.

He was a pioneer of nonsense. A lot of these poems are nonsense. Charming, interesting and occasionally sensible nonsense (which isn't a contradiction) but still nonsense.

The book is arranged in chronological order and that is not always a good thing. The changes in decades were jarring. I feel if you can open a book at any page and read a random poem you would enjoy this book more. I can't ever do that.

I didn't really enjoy this collection. I review based on my experience and this wasn't a great reading experience. I accept the fact there is greatness in the book but it wasn't great for me.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite poems ever!! It's so whimsical and weird I love it!!

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the greatest nonsense poems ever written, yet Lewis Carroll is able to make himself understood, even when using words of his own devising.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter can recite this nonsense poem by heart. I don’t know how she does it.

[Laura Jager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw this book in the University Library and decided that it was time to read something by another Lewis.
This was a lot of fun. I don't often read poetry books, but this was a great exception! I read both "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass" years ago and loved it, so I was interested in reading more by Carroll. When I saw this book, I decided to pick it up and I was pleasantly surprised. The poems were fun, easy to read and this collection offered a great selection of Carroll's works.
I would recommend this book to everyone who liked "Alice in Wonderland", because it is just as crazy and funny.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

jabberwocky fan here.. i love carroll because a lot of the made up words feel more real than half the ones we use unthinkingly. because jabberwocky is honest about the arbitrariness of words.

writers hide behind the illusion of established vocabulary, but carroll shows how every word was once nonsense until we agreed it meant something

i also remember getting excited at the jabberwocky reference in skyrim when i first played it

[Iza Konings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lewis Carroll really was just a freaky lil dude and someone let him write down all of his funky lil thoughts. Don’t do drugs kids unless you wanna write like this. No other book has made me google as many words so big dubs to good old Lewis because I like to think of myself as someone who knows lots of words. Anyway solid 4/5 would read again.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you know that there are 5e DnD stats for the vorpal sword because I think they're so funny. "The weapon ignores resistance to slashing damage." because snicker snack, obviously and "When you attack a creature that has at least one head with this weapon and roll a 20 on the attack roll, you cut off one of the creature's heads". So you really can go galumphing back.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the more narrative poems but the rest were a slog to get through.

[PageTurners; · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worst book ever. Didnt give it 2 bcz i undrestood ONE word in total.

1.26 ⭐️

[Srishti Jha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quaff - to drink heartily. I love the sound of it.

(In a parallel universe I have a stable mental health and motivation that does not depend on my mood.
On some days, I think - this - world is that one.)

Better than Hunting of a snark. This one actually made me laugh. There was a poem on a photographer taking pictures and a few other poems that were too specific and nice.

[Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass
and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was the first poem I remember
that got me hooked on poetry.
Loved the sound of the nonsense
words and how they rolled.
This poem opened up a whole new world for
me.
Wrote my first poem at the age of 9.
My class was asked to write a poem based
on a Psalm of David. I won a prize and my
poem was selected as the best out of all the
primary schools in my home town.

[Zacaro Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I have to admit that I'm confused about this author. He is like Dr Suess, making up words I can't read and will never know what they mean. I don't like Dr Suess and I don't like Carroll. I wrote a poem about it actually.

But here's the deal, I like the Jabberwocky and some of the nonsense poems in this book. When Carroll was asked to help enlighten people on the meanings of some of his made up words his grasp of language made me rethink my distaste. Isn't it odd that when you read his nonsense words you still get an idea of what they might mean? Check out the wikipedia page on the Jabberwocky.

Here's my poem about Dr Suess. My opinion is yet to change:

Dr Suess is a hack, making up words like Shirley and hords and
shumarahack it's hard on a parent to read these silly rhymes, i'm
tripping on my words half of the times. A fun thing to do, i'll talk
nonsense To you. Here is a picture of a zimbobabaroo. These made up
things are scary to see, a poor little kid will look and then flee,
"come here" we will say, "and read! Look here and see, a scary picture of a
Zimbababeweed!" "and now you have had a story or two, get in your bed,
I'm not sleeping with you! A monster isn't scary, they are just very
hairy. My bed is no safer, please face your fears and be a bit braver.
Why did I read Dr Suess to you?! Next time I'll read "my cow that says 'moo.'"

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the poem Jabberwock, but some of Carroll's other poetry just doesn't do it for me. This time I was sharing the book with Sloane and my class. I adore being the first to read the poem to children. They TOTALLY get the poem and follow the story far, far better than most adults. I think it's because they are still so very involved in their own imaginary lives. It's a poem that is always a hit. One year when I introduced the poem to my fourth graders, I taught them about nonsense words (as usual.) It was wonderful because they all began to use "Caloo Calay!" as an exclamation and congratulation. I do love kids!

[Leah Mullenaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read only one of these poems, Jabberwocky, illustrated by Joel Stewart. It simply took Lewis Carroll's original nonsense poem and illustrated it. It made a lot more sense reading it with the pictures acting it out, because most of the time, I had no idea what Carroll was saying with those crazy made up words. It was a simple book, not much to it. I didn't enjoy it too much because I didn't learn anything from it. I could be wrong because I didn't analyze it too much, but I don't feel like it teaches a lesson or anything. I think it was just a nonsense adventure story about a boy slaying a scary monster. I didn't feel any different after I read it, and I didn't like that.

[Salóme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book of poems. Can't say I liked all of them but some I liked very much. Many of them are funny in an absurd way. If you want to see examples then I'd recommend poems like "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and "A Sea Dirge". The latter starts like this:

A Sea Dirge

There are certain things - as, a spider, a ghost,
The income-tax, gout, an umbrella for three -
That I hate, but the thing that I hate the most
Is a thing they call the Sea.

Pour some salt water over the floor -
Ugly I'm sure you'll allow it to be:
Suppose it extended a mile or more,
THAT'S very like the Sea.

etc......

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit disappointed to be honest...I loved the poems in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, because I thought they were thought provoking, a little melancholy, meaningful in obscure ways. I enjoyed these poems more than the other ones. I thought they would be more meaningful, I just found them a bit dull and factual, with no other meaning. I'm not good at analysing poems so I probably missed the point of a lot of them. Maybe I just prefer sad romantic poetry; if you do then I am not sure this is the poetry for you. Still talented though, and I really enjoyed The Walrus And The Carpenter.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of nonsense poetry that appeals to all ages, but specifically to young children. Jabberwocky itself was presented in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the wording of the poem is of Lewis Carroll's own invention. The lyricism is playful and the content entertaining. The illustrations are whimsical and mirror those seen in Carroll's other works. Just like "Wonderland", the poem and illustrations throw you into an inverted world where nothing is as it seems and allow your imagination to run wild. I have always enjoyed this poem throughout my childhood and adult life, just like with most of Carroll's work.

[G.C. Neff · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read Jabberwocky back in school, I was enthralled. Here was a fun, nonsense poem that made me smile. So I got a copy ofJabberwocky and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll and read the entire book (okay, so it's a short book) in one day.

And I found that the Jabberwocky still makes me smile. As well as some of the other poems in the book. I have some other books by Lewis Carroll on my shelves to read. I'm certain I'll be smiling more once I get into them.

[Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read most of these before, except (I think) some of the early ones and some of the later ones.

'Jabberwocky' will always be my favourite but there are plenty of others that I enjoyed - most of my favourites are from the Alice stories - thanks in part to the Disney film.

I enjoyed the acrostic poems - I remember writing those at school.

The riddle poems were good as well though I had no hopes of solving most of them.

The notes at the end were useful to help understand the poems (and solve the riddles).