The Hunting of the Snark the poem, among them existential angst, an allegory for tuberculosis, and a mockery of the Tichborne case. "The Hunting of the Snark" has been alluded to in various works and has been adapted for musicals, opera, plays, and music. "The Hunting of the Snark" shares its fictional setting with Lewis Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" published in his children's novel "Through the Looking-Glass" (1871). Eight nonsense words from "Jabberwocky" appear in "The Hunting of the Snark": bandersnatch, beamish, frumious, galumphing, jubjub, mimsiest (which previously appeared as mimsy in "Jabberwocky"), outgrabe and uffish. In a letter to the mother of his young
A-Hunting We Will Go Each consequent verse gets modified by putting in a different animal: Earlier versions of the song switch the words "a-hunting" with "a-roving", dating back to old roving drinking songs from the 16th century. A-Hunting We Will Go A-Hunting We Will Go is a popular folk song and nursery rhyme by English composer Thomas Arne. The "a-" is an archaic intensifying prefix; compare "Here We Come A-wassailing/Here We Come A-caroling" and lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (e.g., “Six geese a-laying”). <poem>A-hunting we will go, A-hunting we will go Heigh-ho, the derry-o, A-hunting we will go. A-hunting we will go,