Multi Genre Literacy

Caitlin McGinn
Professor Wexler
English 495ESM
10 February 2010

Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky:” Meaning out of Nonsense

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe (Carroll, 100 Best 71).

So begins the best and most famous nonsense poem in the English language, Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” from his children’s novel Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. “Jabberwocky” has entertained children for over a century with its mystifying imagery and funny sounding words. For adults who study this poem, it becomes less of a “nonsense” poem and more of a profound study in the nature of poetry, word structure and meaning in the English language.

One reason “Jabberwocky” is readable is that it is formatted with standard rules of English poetry. It is a set of seven quatrains in iambic pentameter, with a basic end rhyme of ab cd. The rhyme scheme does not go though the entire poem, as in a couple of stanzas there is not a direct rhyme, such as, “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” (Carroll, 100 Best 72). Although the rhyme is not perfect, the rhythm of the poem is not damaged. Carroll’s use of alliteration contributes to the flow of the poem by connecting the lines through similar sounds.

The words are constructed according to rules of grammar. There are vowels between consonants, and the rules of pronunciation apply. There is a principal in grammar that one can invent new words because the construction of phonemes follows a pattern. Carroll keeps to the pattern of English and is able to invent numerous words to create a poem that has vivid imagery, without definite words. Alice says about “Jabberwocky,” “Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas – only I don’t know exactly what they are!” (Carroll, Annotated 150). Carroll did not create his words solely from his imagination. Most of them are related to Anglo-Saxon, or old English words. And some words, such as “chortle,” (a cross between “chuckle” and “snort”) have been accepted into our language. Looking for the sources of Carroll’s words is an interesting and time consuming hobby, but it bypasses the point of the poem. If Carroll meant for his words to be clear, he would have used regular English words, instead of silly inventions. The word play is meant to create imagery in one’s mind and force one to use one’s imagination to interpret the meaning. The beauty of “Jabberwocky” is that people do come up with interpretations.

Humpty Dumpty perhaps gives the best explanation of the nature of the words in “Jabberwocky.” He is explaining to Alice that the poem is filled with “portmanteau” words: “there are two meanings packed up into one word,” such as “slithy” is a combination of “slimy” and “lithe” (Carroll, Annotated 215). However, Humpty Dumpty notoriously creates meanings for words, so his explanations of these packed words, are unreliable. Just as relying on the ancient sources for the words sacrifices the point of the poem, so does trying to define each and every word, which often becomes contradictory, like Dumpty’s “toves are something like badgers— they’re something like lizards— and they’re something like corkscrews” (ibid).

“Jabberwocky” can be understood from a linguistic and grammatical perspective, but what is most important in all poetry, is the meaning of the poem. Interpreting a poem like “Jabberwocky” is different than interpreting most other poems. The words in most poems guide you to think of a theme or subject that most people will be able to also see. Carroll gives enough “real” words, such as “sword,” “beware,” and “my son,” that an image of some type of battle has been fought. A sense of the fighter winning against the Jabberwocky seems to restore some kind of order. However, these are vague ideas that can be taken in any direction. “Jabberwocky” is ultimately a child’s poem, “For young children, whose brains are struggling to comprehend language, words are magical in any case; the magic of adults, utterly mysterious; no child can distinguish between “real” words and nonsensical “unreal” words and … [Jabberwocky] has the effect of arousing childish anxiety, and placating it” (Oates). Children may feel anxiety about not knowing how to define, or maybe pronounce the words in the poem, but when read aloud to them a story will develop in their minds. “Jabberwocky,” is essentially an exercise in the rules of grammar, and the imagination of its readers.

The poem’s form follows that of a ballad. A ballad is “a short simple narrative poem… founded on dramatic incidences from the old romances, or upon some older legend” (Deutsch 15). There is a hero, a monster, and an epic battle with the hero as conqueror. Ballads typically come from an oral tradition that has been passed down through generations, with only small changes along the way. They stay reasonably consistent considering the enormity of time from the origin of the legend, to when it is written down. “Jabberwocky” parodies this style because Carroll could use it to prove that sounds create images, not just words. A story can be developed and explained, an image put in one’s mind, all based on sounds. Carroll successfully proves that by creating sounds that follow grammatical rules an interpretation can be derived. The poem has even been translated into other languages. “Jabberwocky,” a nonsense poem, has been translated into Latin, German, French and other languages.

“Jabberwocky” is a poem that has influenced modern culture in surprising ways. It is taught in school as a way to learn to interpret poems. There is a band and short film called Jabberwocky. Jabberwocky has come to mean nonsensical behavior, meaningless language, and is even used in medical jargon for finding mysterious or unexplained phenomena. The beauty and genius of “Jabberwocky” is that children can love it for its funny sounds and easy rhythm, and adults, looking back at it can remember the feeling it gave them when they were children, but can also look at it from their mature perspective and see the manipulation of form and language.








Works Cited
Carroll, Lewis. “Jabberwocky.” 100 Best-Loved Poems. Ed. Philip Smith. New York: Dover, 1995. Print.
---. The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. Ed. Martin Gardner. New York: Norton, 2000. Print.
Deutsch, Babette. Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1974. Print.
Oates, Joyce Carol. “First loves: From “Jabberwocky” to “Apple-Picking.’” American Poetry Review 28.6 (1999): n. pag. Ebscohost. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.