The Hunting of the Snark follows a crew of ten trying to hunt the Snark, an animal which may turn out to be a highly dangerous Boojum. The only one of the crew to find the Snark quickly vanishes, leading the narrator to explain that it was a Boojum after all. The poem is dedicated to young Gertrude Chataway, whom Carroll met at the English seaside town Sandown in the Isle of Wight in 1875. Included with many copies of the first edition of the poem was Carroll's religious tract, "An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves "Alice"". "The Hunting of the Snark" was
Lewis Carroll partitioned Poland, and France. He died of pneumonia following influenza on 14 January 1898 at his sisters' home, "The Chestnuts", in Guildford. He was two weeks away from turning 66 years old. His funeral was held at the nearby St Mary's Church. He is buried in Guildford at the Mount Cemetery. Some late twentieth-century biographers have suggested that Dodgson's interest in children had an erotic element, including Morton N. Cohen in his "Lewis Carroll: A Biography" (1995), Donald Thomas in his "Lewis Carroll: A Portrait with Background" (1995), and Michael Bakewell in his "Lewis Carroll: A Biography" (1996). Cohen, in