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By Lewis Carroll. ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun. The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand;
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Read the complete poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, a nonsensical and playful verse with invented words and sounds. Learn about the poem's meter, rhyme scheme, and annotations with Owl Eyes.
Jabberwocky - ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”
Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was published in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass and has inspired many adaptations and interpretations.
- Summary
- Poetic Techniques
- Nonsense Writing
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
- Context
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The poem begins with the speakerusing strange and unknown words to describe a scene. There are “toves,” “borogroves” and “raths”. These things move within the landscape in different ways, and make different noises. They are part of a world that is wholly separate from our own. In the next lines, a speaker jumps into the narrative and tells his son ...
Carroll also makes use of a number of other poetic techniques. These include alliteration, enjambment, assonance, and consonance. The first, alliteration, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. For example, in the first stanza“gyre” and “gimble,” and “claws” and “catch” in the se...
Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’ has been categorized as part of a broader category of literature known as nonsense writing, and more directly nonsense verse. The form of writing originated from traditional nursery rhymes and games but was then evolved by writers such as Edward Lear and was later popularized by Lewis Carroll. Largely, this kind of wri...
Stanza Two
The second stanza is a little less confusing but is still speaking about a world very different from our own. A speaker jumps into the narrative and tells his son to look out for the “Jabberwock”. The Jabberwock is the most important creature in the poem, but again, Carroll does not give enough context clues, at first anyway to know what exactly it is. All a reader knows is that it has “ jaws that bite [and]… claws that catch!” It is obviously something scary and darkens the overall tone of t...
Stanza Three
In the third stanza, the speaker describes how “he,” presumably the son mentioned in the previous lines, is going to go hunt these creatures. He is seeking them out with his “vorpal sword” in hand. The word “vorpal” has never been properly defined, but it is obviously a modifier to the word “sword,” defining what kind of sword it is and/or what it can do. The son spent a long time looking for the Jabberwocky. He is a “maxome foe,” suggesting the Jabberwocky is the ultimate, most dangerous of...
Stanza Four
All of a sudden, as the “uffish” perhaps meaning simple or frustrated “thoughts” are in his head, the “Jabberwock” is there. He has flaming eyes that speak to the intimidating nature of the creature and its inherent danger. The symbolof fire makes the Jabberwock seem evil and something that should be fought back against. The speaker also says that the Jabberwock moved “whiffling”. This likely means fast, and sounds somewhat onomatopoeic, as if mimicking the sound of air rushing past a surface...
The poem was included in Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. It was Alice who found the poem in a nonsensical book that turned out to be written backward. She held the pages up to a mirror and the reflected image was the poem ‘Jabberwocky’.
Learn about the poem Jabberwocky, a classic example of nonsense verse by Lewis Carroll. Discover the poem's meaning, themes, poetic techniques, and context in this comprehensive analysis.
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
May 13, 2011 · Read and analyze the classic poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, a humorous and inventive use of made-up words and sounds. Learn about the poem's structure, meter, characters, and translation in different languages.
Jabberwocky is a famous poem from Alice Through the Looking-Glass, written by Lewis Carroll in 1871. It features a series of invented words and sounds, such as "brillig", "slithy", "gyre" and "gimble", that create a humorous and whimsical atmosphere.
