Asked by Julie

Read the excerpt from "A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes.

How does the comma in the first line contribute to a gloomy tone?

by showing the speaker’s wish to see Alice again
by emphasizing how the speaker thinks of Alice

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
by emphasizing how the speaker thinks of Alice

The comma creates a pause that isolates "phantomwise," making the image of Alice as a ghostly, haunting presence more prominent and giving the line a mournful, eerie rhythm — it conveys how he remembers her, not a wish to see her again.