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What is The Hunting of the Snark about?

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The Hunting of the Snark (1876) is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll that chronicles the sea voyage of a diverse crew—including a bellman, a barrister, a banker, and a baker—as they search for an elusive, undefined creature known as a Snark.12

While the poem has been the subject of various scholarly interpretations ranging from political allegory to existential commentary, Carroll maintained that the work was intended simply as nonsense. The poem is structured in eight cantos and features a dedicatory acrostic honoring Gertrude Chataway, a child friend of the author.1