History Literature / Jabberwocky

[[folder:The poem in full]]
->'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.'
[[/folder]]

What you just read was a nonsense ballad by Creator/LewisCarroll to {{parody}} overwrought and poorly-written yet seriously-intended poems. It appeared in ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There]]'', the second of Carroll's ''Alice'' books. In it, Alice finds the poem right upon entering the Looking-Glass, and, more than confused by its words, asks for Humpty Dumpty's help to decipher it after meeting him later on.

-->'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.'

What you just read was a nonsense ballad by Creator/LewisCarroll to {{parody}} overwrought and poorly-written yet seriously-intended poems. It appeared in ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There]]'', the second of Carroll's ''Alice'' books.

* MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext: Unless you've read Carroll's definitions, the entire poem is an amalgamation of nonsensical words jumbled together that vaguely tell the story of a boy who slays a monster.

What you just read was a nonsense ballad by Creator/LewisCarroll to {{parody}} overwrought and poorly-written yet seriously-intended poems. It appeared in ''[[LiteratureAlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There]]'', the second of Carroll's ''Alice'' books.

What you just read was a nonsense ballad by Creator/LewisCarroll to {{parody}} overwrought and poorly-written yet seriously-intended poems. It appeared in ''[[Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', the second of Carroll's ''Alice'' books.

What you just read was a nonsense ballad by Creator/LewisCarroll to {{parody}} overwrought and poorly-written yet seriously-intended poems. It appeared in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass]]'', the second of Carroll's ''Alice'' books.

A nonsense ballad by Creator/LewisCarroll to {{parody}} overwrought and poorly-written yet seriously-intended poems. It appeared in ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'', the second of Carroll's ''Alice'' books.

* {{Portmanteau}}: Many of the made-up words take this form - "slithy", "mimsy", "galumphing" and "chortled". It is a little harder to trace the etymology of "frumious", "whiffling", "burbled" and "frabjous", though these may all be corrupted portmanteaux.

Be aware that, while "Jabberwocky" is the name of the poem, the eponymous monster is the ''Jabberwock''.

* AllThereInTheManual: Carroll created definitions for his nonsense words. The first stanza is explicitly translated by Humpty Dumpty when Alice meets him later in the ''Through The Looking-Glass''.

* AllThereInTheManual: Carroll created definitions for his nonsense words.

* {{Portmanteau}}: Many of the made-up words take this form.

* AWinnerIsYou: "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: InUniverse. the boy's father tells him to beware several dangerous monsters, and his immediate response to these warnings is to grab a weapon and go out to kill one. Downplayed, in that the father is very much proud of his son after his success.

* SoProudOfYou: "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"

* YeOldeButcheredEnglishe: The first stanza was originally published alone as a parody of old English verse where almost all the words have fallen out of use.

* AWinnerIsYou: "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"

* {{Neologism}}: A lot of them—25 words in the poem are ones that Carrol just made up.

* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Carroll filled his poem with words that did not exist at the time (burbled, vorpal, tulgey...)

* BookEnds: The first and last stanzas are identical.

* TwentyFourHourTropeClock: Brillig is four o'clock in the afternoon, just when you start to broil things for dinner.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: It can be easily inferred from the story that the Jabberwock eats people, but we aren't given any information as to whether the creature is malevolent or simply an animalistic predator.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Jabberwock resembles a dragon in the illustration, although the prose's description of it is rather vague.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The Vorpal Sword, whoch decapitates the Jabberwock in two slices.