JabberwockyA nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll
Lewis Caroll, aka Charles Dodgson, wrote this nonsense poem in 1872, incorporating it into his book "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There".
It tells the story of a father warning his son about various dangerous creatures. The son goes hunting for
one of them, and returns triumphant. Many of the words used were made up by Lewis Carroll, but some have since
fallen into common English usage (for example, 'chortle').
I once asked my son, aged four at the time : Would you like me to tell you a story? and when he responded positively, I quoted the poem :
`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, has 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. He listened with rapt attention. At the end, I asked him what he thought. His response is classic : I think it's some kind of monster story A few weeks later, I tried again. Would you like me to tell you a story? Yes 'twas brillig, and the slithy toves.... (indignantly) That's not a story!! By the way, many of the monsters appearing in this poem also appear in the much longer The Hunting Of The Snark, published in 1876. |