Alice in Wonderland extract

"What a curious feeling!" said Alice, "I must be shutting up like a telescope." It was so indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up as it occurred to her that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see whether she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this, "for it might end, you know," said Alice to herself, "in my going out altogether, like a candle, and what should I be like then, I wonder?" and she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember having ever seen one. However, nothing more happened, so she decided on going into the garden at once, but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for the key, she found she could not possibly reach it:

Curious: in this context means odd or strange but after this period of time it went through a stage of meaning finding something intriguing however it has now returned back to meaning odd. It went through semantic change but still returned to the same meaning that it began with, now it has a shared meaning and the audience has to interpret which meaning was intended due to the surrounding context.

Shutting up like a telescope: telescope is not as commonly used now as it used to be and so it may not be used in modern context in a form of a simile like it is here.  We will more likely say, now, something like “shrinking like a deflating balloon” to try to recreate the same imagery that was created in this however it does not give the same effect.  “shutting up like a telescope” to me almost sounds painful maybe a bit jolty due to all the different sections of a telescope that need to be closed up it also seems like it might take a little while until it is completely shut possibly suggesting that it is a long process for her to shrink, whereas a deflating balloon sounds smooth and instant.