Lewis Carroll gives "1872" as the date of publication.) Its somewhat darker mood possibly reflects changes in Dodgson's life. His father's death in 1868 plunged him into a depression that lasted some years. In 1876, Dodgson produced his next great work, "The Hunting of the Snark", a fantastical "nonsense" poem exploring the adventures of a bizarre crew of nine tradesmen and one beaver, who set off to find the snark. It received largely mixed reviews from Carroll's contemporary reviewers, but was enormously popular with the public, having been reprinted seventeen times between 1876 and 1908, and has seen various adaptations into musicals,
Lewis Carroll of which one has survived: "La Guida di Bragia". In 1856, he published his first piece of work under the name that would make him famous. A romantic poem called "Solitude" appeared in "The Train" under the authorship of "Lewis Carroll". This pseudonym was a play on his real name: "Lewis" was the anglicised form of "Ludovicus", which was the Latin for "Lutwidge", and "Carroll" an Irish surname similar to the Latin name "Carolus", from which comes the name "Charles". The transition went as follows: "Charles Lutwidge" translated into Latin as "Carolus Ludovicus". This was then translated back into English