"How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a poem by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

 which appears in his novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...

. It's recited by Alice in Chapter 2. It describes a crafty crocodile

Crocodile

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...

 which lures fish into its mouth with a welcoming smile.

This poem is performed by Fiona Fullerton

Fiona Fullerton

Fiona Elizabeth Fullerton is a Nigerian-born British actress.She is perhaps best known for her role as KGB spy Pola Ivanova in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill and as Alice in the 1972 film Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.Fullerton made her film debut in 1969 with a role in Run Wild, Run...

 in the film "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a 1972 British musical film based on the Lewis Carroll novel of the same name. It had an all star cast, and John Barry composed the score....

" (1972).

Text

How doth the little crocodile

Improve upon his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,

How neatly spreads his claws,

And welcomes little fishes in

With gently smiling jaws!

"Against Idleness and Mischief"

"How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a parody of the moralistic poem "Against Idleness And Mischief

Against Idleness And Mischief

"Against Idleness and Mischief" is a poem in Divine Songs for Children, by Isaac Watts, and is one of his best known poems. As the title suggests, it is an exhortation to work hard.-Text:...

" by Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...

(Alice was originally trying to recite that). Watts' poem begins "How doth the little busy bee," and uses a bee as a model of hard work. In Carroll's parody, the crocodile's corresponding "virtues" are deception and predation, themes which recur throughout Alice's adventures in both books, and especially in the poems.