Which postlude poem in Through the Looking-Glass is an acrostic spelling Alice Pleasance Liddell?

The postlude poem “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” forms an acrostic spelling Alice Pleasance Liddell.

The poem appears at the end of Through the Looking-Glass, after Alice has awakened from the looking-glass world. Its line initials spell the name “Alice Pleasance Liddell,” the full name of the real girl associated with Carroll and the inspiration traditionally connected with the Alice books.

This concealed name gives the ending a personal and elegiac quality. The poem recalls a summer afternoon and a boat journey, echoing the circumstances in which Carroll first told the Alice story to the Liddell sisters during a boating expedition on the River Thames. Carroll later developed that oral tale into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Readers often confuse this poem with “Child of the Pure Unclouded Brow,” which is the book’s opening dedication or prelude. Other listed choices are songs or verses spoken within the narrative, including the White Knight’s ballad and the Red Queen’s lullaby. “A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” is the closing acrostic.