A Sea Dirge
Lewis Carroll
1832 to 1898
Drag the words to the correct places to complete the poem. To reset the game, click on the "Reset Game" button located below the poem. This will clear all the words you've placed in the blanks, returning them to the word bank and resetting the poem to its original state with empty blanks.
There are certain things—as, a spider, a ghost,
______ income-tax, gout, an umbrella for three—
That I hate, ______ the thing that I hate the most
Is ______ thing they call the Sea.
Pour some salt water ______ the floor—
Ugly I’m sure you’ll allow it ______ be:
Suppose it extended a mile or more,
That’s very like the Sea.
Beat a dog till it ______ outright—
Cruel, but all very well for a spree:
Suppose that he did so day and night,
______ would be like the Sea.
I had a vision ______ nursery-maids;
Tens of thousands passed by me—
All ______ children with wooden spades,
And this was by ______ Sea.
Who invented those spades of wood?
Who ______ it cut them out of the tree?
None, I think, but an idiot could—
Or one that loved ______ Sea.
It is pleasant and dreamy, no doubt, to ______
With ‘thoughts as boundless, and souls as free’:
But, suppose you are very unwell in the boat,
______ do you like the Sea?
There is an insect ______ people avoid
(Whence is derived the verb ‘to flee’).
Where have you been by it most annoyed?
______ lodgings by the Sea.
If you like your coffee ______ sand for dregs,
A decided hint of salt ______ your tea,
And a fishy taste in the very eggs—
By all means choose the Sea.
And if, ______ these dainties to drink and eat,
You prefer ______ a vestige of grass or tree,
And a chronic ______ of wet in your feet,
Then—I recommend the Sea.
For I have friends who dwell by the coast—
Pleasant friends they are to me!
It is when ______ am with them I wonder most
That anyone ______ the Sea.
They take me a walk: though tired ______ stiff,
To climb the heights I madly agree;
And, after a tumble or so from the cliff,
______ kindly suggest the Sea.
I try the rocks, and ______ think it cool
That they laugh with such ______ excess of glee,
As I heavily slip into every ______
That skirts the cold cold Sea.