The Jabberwocky
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;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, referred to as ‘nonsense literature’ by many, tells the story of a young boy who ventures out into the world to defeat evil, is victorious, and then returns home. The relative lack of ‘proper’ english words indicates a lack of seriousness or urgency from the beginning of the poem, meaning that this is not a poem meant to educate, inform, or persuade, but one meant for entertainment.
The first stanza sets the scene with its content, but also with its meter and rhyme scheme. Even in the first sentence, there are three uncommon, ‘nonsensical’ words to interest the audience immediately. These odd words draw the reader in, making them curious to understand not only the events occurring now, but the events that will occur later. The sounds of the words ‘brillig’, ‘slithy’, and ‘toves’ seem like a very old dialect of english, setting the scene for a fairy tale like story. Already, Carroll wants to surprise the audience and keep them wanting more; this is not simply a poem with a message meant to be understood, but a poem with a message meant to be interpreted and extracted. The whole purpose of the first stanza is to place the audience in unfamiliar territory, with a yearning to understand more about it. A pompous explanation of the setting, the first stanza explains the time: brillig is an antiquated term for near afternoon, the setting: ‘slithy toves’ abound, so this is most likely a fairy tale land with fictional animals and places, and the ambiance: while the words and names are nonsense, their sound places us in a bog like atmosphere, where mimsy can be interpreted as restless and outgrabe interpreted as an outcry of overall miserability. While the setting and language are unfamiliar, Carroll prevents frustration by giving some familiarity in the rhyme scheme, ABAB, and the meter: a simple iambic pentameter. Most words being under two syllables means that even from the first stanza, the poem reads like a song; it flows, bending and twisting in the mind of the audience.
The second stanza introduces the first notable characters. The narrator seems to be an older, wiser, person who is educating a younger person on the dangers of the wild. Here we see a classic set up of an evil, and a quest to fight back. Although the audience has never seen a Jabberwock, or a JubJub bird, Carroll uses personification of the Jabberwock’s scariest elements, its claws and its jaws, to characterize the Jabberwock as ruthlessly animalistic and evil. It will eat anything, even this little boy. While Carroll stays in the familiar ABAB rhyme scheme, he breaks iambic pentameter in the last line of the stanza, moving into a meter that is hard to classify. While the familiarity of lyrical iambic pentameter coupled with ABAB rhyme scheme allows us to have some understanding of the direction of the poem, this break is meant to give a somewhat startling effect, emphasizing that this will not be a boring story. Caroll forces the reader to pay particular attention.
In the next stanza, Carroll sets the main character upon his quest. The use of the word foe indicates a struggle between two forces. The characterization in the previous stance, coupled with the knowledge that the main character has a vorpal (connotes noble through its sound) sword implies that the character setting out on the quest is good, while the forces around him are evil. While this is a more understandable stanza than the last two, Caroll keeps the audience thinking by slightly altering the rhyme scheme to ABCB. This prevents the audience from simply scanning the poem, forcing them to engage with the poem.
The next stanza details the arrival of the evil Jabberwock. Words like ‘Whiffing’, ‘eyes of flame’, and ‘burbled’ indicate that the approach of the Jabberwocky struck fear into the main character, for good reason. It is now very clear that the Jabberwock is representative of evil. Caroll returns to the more familiar ABAB rhyme scheme to make sure the reader understands this critical moment in the plot of the poem.
The next stanza declares how his blade went ‘snicker-snack’, killing the Jabberwock. This is the climax of the poem, exclamation points building up excitement while ‘snicker-snack’ describes in an unfamiliar, yet captivating way, exactly how the hero defeated the beast. Here, Caroll switches to an ABCB rhyme scheme, building a very important internal rhyme in the third line of the stanza. Dead and head rhyme, and are very close together, meaning that this is a point meant to be read fast, with excitement and astonishment. “Galumphing” sounds like it conveys a triumphant, brisk, march back to the where the quest began. Our hero has vanquished his foe.
The next stanza declares the excitement that our older, wiser, person feels upon hearing that the person he brought up has defeated the greatest foe. Celebration words, like ‘Callooh’ and ‘Callay’ punctuated by exclamation marks excites the audience one last time before the poem reaches its resolution. This is a classic example of a final hill in a climactic plot characteristic of tales about quests.
Finally, the original stanza is repeated. This indicates that while the Jabberwock has been slain, and there was a period of excitement; it was temporary. Everything has returned to normal; our hero is in the same setting at the same time, with the same unpleasant ambience, even after vanquishing his greatest foe.
Overall, the meter, vocabulary and rhyme scheme present in this ballad makes it an engaging enjoyment read. The lack of coherent message indicates that Caroll is not trying to persuade or inform, but to entertain; a purpose that is perhaps just as important in poetry as the others.