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Before Alice enters the dream state -and falls to Wonderland - on the bank beside her sister, the reader is told by Carroll that it was a hot day and that Alice thought of the possibility of making a daisy chain:

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do... So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid) whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

Near the end of the book, however, as Alice exits Wonderland, Carroll presents the reader with what appears to be a different season. As Alice is attacked by the pack of cards, she:

...tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face.

Therefore, while Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland begins in a spring-like setting, the book appears to end in a fall-like one. Do several months elapse between the spring-like beginning and fall-like end of *Wonderland?

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    I doubt that her sister had Alice's head in her lap for several months.
    – Clara Díaz Sanchez
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 13:03
  • I get your point, although I think that we are never told by Carroll that Alice fell asleep with her head on her sister’s lap.
    – ferjsoto42yahoocom
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 14:55
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    Leaves can still die and fall off during the summer.
    – alexgbelov
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 15:25
  • 2
    That is true, but given that Carroll plays with this inside the books it makes one think. if Alice were to come out in, say, Australia, then it may be fall there. Looking-Glass occurs exactly 6 months after Wonderland - supposedly Alice takes place May 4 (when Alice L. Is exactly 7 and L-G when she is exactly 7 1/2 years old.
    – ferjsoto42yahoocom
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 15:35
  • @alexgbelov in particular beech trees keep their brown leaves on until the new ones start to come out, in spring
    – Chris H
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 15:54

1 Answer 1

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Lewis Carroll is English, so would have been referring to the English "Lawn Daisy" (Bellis Perennis that flowers from Spring to late Summer

Bellis are perennials forming a rosette of spoon-shaped leaves, with daisy-like flower-heads, often double in cultivars, from early spring to late summer

Whether or not Dodgson intended for his young audience to notice and reflect on the difference in time isn't obvious. I personally don't recall enough of the book to remember if time dilation was a theme or how long Alice's underground adventures took.

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    Certainly you can get daisys and falling leaves at the same time in England.
    – OrangeDog
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 11:14
  • Yes, but could you do so during pre-Wonderland times? I think the seasons have shifted quite a lot since then.
    – ferjsoto42yahoocom
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 14:54
  • The book was written around 1862. The seasons' haven't shifted much in the past century or so.
    – user134768
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 15:06
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    Over 150 years ago and, yes, they have changed quite a bit. Can you imagine the Thames freezing now, and the last time that happened was only some 60 years ago. In 1683-4 it froze for 2 months and in London at least 23 times between 1408 and 1814, though several of these events lasted only a few days. For this see “Did the Thames Really Used to Freeze Over?”, online.
    – ferjsoto42yahoocom
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 15:42
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    @gidds They're not one and the same, but you can't have the former without the latter.
    – wizzwizz4
    Commented Mar 11, 2021 at 20:29

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