Nonsense Is Defined by Its Inability to be Defined Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear's Alice in Wonderland

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The definition of nonsense has been debated throughout literature. Yet nonsense itself cannot be defined, but rather it is defined by its inability to be defined. It’s the destruction or defiance of the norm that often leads to creation of nonsense. The language of nonsense itself is closely intertwined with various techniques of style, structuralization and various motifs. Authors such as Lewis Caroll in Alice and Wonderland and Edward Lear’s The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear use such techniques to invoke the language of nonsense as well as to create nonsense within their writing. Both Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear use the language of nonsense is also defined by paradoxes, the play on stereotypes, and the usage of polysemy.
Lewis Carroll demonstrates paradoxes within Alice and Wonderland as Alice is tossed within an entirely different world. Yet one of the greatest paradoxes is the transformation of Alice over the course of the novel as well as the transformation of the duchess. Alice begins as an ignorant child; she has difficulties in morphing to the logic and needs of Wonder...

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