Why does Lewis Carroll add the encounter with the talking flowers?

Answer 1

According to Martin Gardner's Annotated Alice, Alice's encounter with the talking flowers is a parody of the poem Maud by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

There has fallen a splendid tear

From the passion-flower at the gate.

She is coming, my dove, my dear;

She is coming, my life, my fate;

The red rose cries, 'She is near, she is near;'

And the white rose weeps, 'She is late;'

The larkspur listens, 'I hear, I hear;'

And the lily whispers, 'I wait.'

(Read the complete poem at the related link, below)

Both of Lewis Carroll's Alice books include allusion to and parody of pre-existing works. Satirising Alfred Tennyson's Maud is consistent with Carroll's delight in disrupting or inverting the meanings and morals of more earnest, worthy literature.

But it is also possible that in this instance Carroll was seeking a gentle revenge against a slight dealt him by the Tennysons.

According to Philip Henderson's Tennyson, Poet and Prophet (see related link, below) Carroll met Tennyson on two occasions, but upon asking permission to print one of Alfred's unpublished poems Carroll recieved a very frosty reply from the poet's wife, Emily:

"It would be well that a gentleman should understand that when an author does not give his works to the public, he has his own reasons for it."

Henderson suggests that it was this incident which provoked Carroll's spoof of Tennyson's poem.

Answer 2

The encounter with the talking flowers in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" serves to further portray the whimsical and nonsensical nature of Wonderland. It adds to the surreal atmosphere and showcases Carroll's creativity and ability to create imaginative and strange scenarios in the story.