Publisher's Synopsis
"Phantasmagoria" is a poem written by Lewis Carroll and first published in 1869 as the opening poem of a collection of verse by Carroll entitled Phantasmagoria and Other Poems. The collection was also published under the name Rhyme? And Reason? It is Lewis Carroll's longest poem. Both the poem and the collection were illustrated by A. B. Frost. "Phantasmagoria" is a poem written by Lewis Carroll and first published in 1869 as the opening poem of a collection of verse by Carroll entitled Phantasmagoria and Other Poems. The collection was also published under the name Rhyme? And Reason? It is Lewis Carroll's longest poem. Both the poem and the collection were illustrated by A. B. Frost.
The Trystyng is the meeting between the ghost and the narrator in which they become acquainted. The narrator has come home one evening to find something "white and wavy" in his dimly lit room. Hearing a sneeze, he addresses the Phantom, a shy creature who has caught a cold, he says, "out there upon the landing". The cordial exchange allays the narrator's apprehensions, the narrator's hospitality is appreciated by the ghost, and a conversation ensues. The ghost explains that the number of ghosts any house can accommodate is variable: some houses have more than one ghost, but this is a "one-ghost" house. He describes the ghosts' hierarchy:
