Jabberwocky by Charles Lutwidge Dogdson
Annotation 0: Reading of “Jabberwocky” with illustrations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ZeWcXhlRE&feature=player_embedded
Annotation 1: Glossary for the non-sense words of “Jabberwocky”
Many of the words used in “Jabberwocky” were of Dodgson’s own creation and he never bothered to explain most of them. I think Dodgson used the character of Humpty Dumpty from “Through the Looking Glass” to explain his opinion on this topic, ‘When _I_ use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less’ (Clark 44). Below are definitions found from various sources (Rooy, “Jabberwocky”).
· “Brillig”: four o’clock in the afternoon — the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.
· “Slithy”: lithe and slimy. ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active’.
· “Toves”: curious creatures that are something like badgers, something like lizards, and something like corkscrews. They make their nests under sun-dials and live on cheese.
· “To gyre”: to go round and round like a gyroscope.
· “To gimble”: to make holes like a gimblet.
· “Wabe”: the grass-plot round a sun-dial. It is called like that because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it. And a long way beyond it on each side.
· “Mimsy”: flimsy and miserable
· “Borogove”: a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round; something like a live mop.
· “Mome rath”: a ‘rath’ is a sort of green pig. Humpty Dumpty is not certain about the meaning of ‘mome’, but thinks it’s short for “from home”; meaning that they’d lost their way.
· “To outgrabe”: ‘outgribing’ is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle.
· “Frumious”: combination of ‘furious’ and ‘fuming’
· “Snickersnee”: a large knife, or fighting with a large knife
“Beamish”: shining brightly
· “Galumphing”: combination of ‘gallop’ and ‘triumphant’
· “Chortled”: combination of ‘chuckle’ and ‘snort’
· “Uffish”: state of mind when the voice is “gruffish” and the temper is huffish
· “burble”: combination olf verbs ‘bleat, murmur, and warble’
Annotation 2: History and peculiarity of “Jabberwocky” Poem
“Jabberwocky” is an extremely famous poem by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson also known as Dodgson. The first appearance of this poem was in an 1885 periodical privately published by Dodgson for his sibling called Misch-Masch. That first publication included only the first stanza, calling it “Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry”, with no explanations as to what it means. This more complete version called “Jabberwocky” appears in the book “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found there” by Dodgson. In this sequel to “Alice in Wonderland” Alice travels through a mirror into an alternate world, where she discovers this poem. At first she is led to believe the poem is in a foreign language, since she has no understanding of it, but discovers it was written backwards. She manages to read it using a mirror, but is disappointed to discover that she can’t make any sense of it.
The poem has no exact meaning and in letters written by Dodgson, we discover even he is not sure as to what all of his words mean. However, he gives us clues through other sources. For example in the same book that the poem appears in, the main character Alice meets Humpty Dumpty who explains to her the meaning of the first and last stanzas. In another poem “The Hunting of the Snark”, Dodgson used and explained vocabulary he used in the “Jabberwocky”. Some of the words were accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary. Another author, Martin Gardner, published “Annotated Alice – the definitive edition” in-which he found and annotated the original Victorian words from the poem.
Explication: The Nonsense ballad of the Jabberwock
The Poem “Jabberwocky” by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson also known as Lewis Clark is arguably the most famous nonsense poems ever written. To me it appears as a personal testament from Dodgson of his mastery of the English language. The results of this talent gives us a literary ballad of a mystical distant land full of unique creatures and the heroic adventure of a young hero going against the “Jabberwock”.
The very first stanza starts our epic story and gives us a clear indication that we are in an alternate world. Our story goes as follows, “Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:/ All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgrabe” (1-4). Right away we are taken in by the rhyme in those first four lines. We have an ABAB rhyme scheme and a hint of alliteration in the second line with the words “gyre” and “gimble”. In unison with the rhyme Clark’s word choice of these unknown words grabs our attention producing a sound of cacophony and onomatopoeia, with words like “mimsy” and “brillig” as we try to pronounce words we’ve never before viewed. Without knowing the meaning, the whimsical sound of the words inspires a feeling of “awe”. Translating this stanza we discover flowing images of the unknown birds and mammals in an unknown world and there’s an added suspense in the seemingly anxious activities of the animals. The first stanza acts to catch the eye of the reader, reveals the setting of the story and identifies a hidden conflict.
The second stanza reveals the plot. Just the first line identifies our protagonist and antagonist, “Beware the Jabberwock, my Son!” (5). That first line identifies our rising action and foreshadows a conflict between the “Jabberwock” being the antagonist and the “son” our protagonist. This stanza follows the same rhyme scheme CDCD, with alliteration in the second line (7) with the words “jaws” and “claws” emphasizing the ferocity of the Jabberwock. The images from the first stanza continue into the second with addition fantasy creatures such as the “jub jub bird” and the “bandersnatch” except this time the list includes all predators to highlight the dangers our hero will face. The second stanza begins the plot of the story.
The action continues to rise in the third stanza as we follow our hero on his adventure. Our hero’s journey goes as follows, “He took his vorpal sword in hand:/ Long time the manxome foe he sought-/ So rested by the Tumtum tree,/ And stood awhile in thought.” (9-12). Our hero has now traveled a while looking for his nemesis and begins to tire of the search. The entire tone changed in this stanza, the story slowed down, the rhyme scheme changed to EFGF. The alliteration in this stanza appears in the third line instead of the second with the phrase “Tumtum tree”. However, Dodgson’s word choice still holds true as he continue to use vocabulary stemmed from his own imagination. I think the whole point of this stanza is to continue the story along while creating a state of suspense for the audience awaiting the big climax identified in the second stanza.
The rising action peaks in this fourth stanza and begins the climax. In this stanza we experience the meeting of the hero with the villain as follows, “And, as in uffish thought he stood,/ The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,/Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,/ And burbled as it came!” (13-16). Our hero is pondering his next move when he spots the eyes of the Jabberwock on its deadly flying approach towards him. The story speeds up at this point. Dodgson engages our sense of sight and sound in this stanza with the image of the beast and the onomatopoeia with words like “whiffling” and “burbled” finally giving in to the suspense created by stanza two and three.
The climax continues into the fifth stanza bringing with it the falling action. Our hero finally engages the antagonist, “One, two! One, two! And through and through/ The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!” (17-18) and the outcome is decided, “He left it dead, and with its head/ He went galumphing back.” (19-20). Unique to the rest of the poem this stanza has word repetition and includes the least complicated language, I think this adds to the impression of the battle on the audience. Without explicitly stating it, we get an image of the hero running around and swinging his sword at the creature, missing some swings and injuring it slowly until he manages to get to the head and chops it off, leaving the creature dead in place. The falling action continues into the next stanza.
In the sixth stanza the conflict of the story has concluded and the hero returns home. The hero meets with his father who sent him out on the dangerous adventure, “And hast though slain the Jabberwock?” (21), and with the news of his success the father cheered with joy as described, “Come to my arms, my beamish boy!/ O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!/ He chortled in his joy.” (22-24). This stanza follows in sync with the others including use of alliteration in the third line and end rhyme between the second and fourth, as well as use of his made-up vocabulary with words such as “frabjous” and “chortled”. It’s this stanza with its cliché celebration between the hero and his loved ones that brings the idea of a folk tale of heroism that leads to identifying this poem as a literary ballad. With this stanza the falling action ends and the denouement continues into the last stanza.
The seventh stanza is an exact repeat of the first. This conclusion shows us that even with the conflict resolved and the Jabberwock gone, life for most of the other creatures in Dodgson’s made-up world goes on. The use of this stanza with its cacophony and most complicated to vocabulary I think also ties back in to the whimsical nonsense of the Dodgson’s creation, leaving us with the images of this far away mystical land of wonder.
Jabberwocky is the most famous nonsense poem written. A personal challenge of Dodgson with the English language and he succeeded. His triumph and silliness assisted in creating a world unique in multiple aspects that we cannot relate to, and with the confusion he instills pushes us deeper into the story engaging and inspiring the audience with highly detailed images and sound makig it a highly successful literary ballad.
Works Cited
Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site. Lenny De Rooy. Web. 2 May 2012. <http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/books/through-the-looking-glass.pdf>.
Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge. “Jabberwocky.” Poetry: An Introduction. By Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 202-03. Print.
Newham, Cameron. “Lewis Carroll.” Lewis Carroll. Rotary Global History Fellowship. Web. 2 May 2012. <http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/philosophy/carroll/index.htm>.
Rooy, Lenny De. “Jabberwocky.” Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland Site. Web. 2 May 2012. <http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/jabberwocky.html>.
Schurman, Aysha. “Jabberwocky, by Lewis Caroll.” Life123. Life123, Inc. All Rights Reserved. An IAC Company. Web. 12 May 2012. <http://www.life123.com/arts-culture/british-authors/lewis-carroll/jabberwocky-by-lewis-caroll.shtml>.
Shaw, David. “Glorious Nonsense.” Jabberwocky. Web. 2 May 2012. <http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/>.
