a new measure (poetry report)

While reading  Cahoots ,   I was also reading  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland .  In the Introduction to the edition of  Alice  I have, Hugh Naughton distinguishes  Alice  readers who “simply wish to enjoy the story as a story, and rebuff all efforts to interpret it” from readers who feel the work’s nonsense warrants interpretation.  “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”    The latter readers feel, Naughton writes, “that it is meaning and not meaninglessness which makes Carroll’s nonsense expressive.” Therefore, the nonsense that characterizes Carroll’s work may be read as the characteristic element of the story, driving it forward enjoyably (if meaninglessly), without pressure to be interpreted. On the other hand, nonsense is the work of something meaningful, deeper, that could be interpreted.    “The first thing I’ve got to do,” said Alice to herself...