 Jabberwocky
Alec Tokar
Brian Tomajko

When Lewis Carroll wrote the poem, Jabberwocky, he
used many different many nonsense words or phrases.
The animals, including the Jabberwocky, are all made up
and nonsense.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

The first stanza of the poem can be interpreted in
many different ways. This is because many of the
words are nonsense. But, there is one documented
explanation. It is done through the character
Humpty Dumpty. He gives some of the meanings
behind the nonsense words such as brillig. Brillig
means around 4 in the afternoon because that’s
when the boiling is done for dinner. Slithy is a mix
between lithe and slimy. A wabe is a glasspot
surrounding a sun-dial. Toves are some kind of
awkward lizard-badger. And an outgrabe is a
combination whistling and bellowing with a
sneeze.
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
 Mimsy is probably a word used to describe
something that is whimsy or in this case,
whimsical.
 Borogoves could be a type of tree, or
grove. But with all the nonsense words in
the story, it could mean anything else, such
as a bird or other animal.
 Outgrabe could be just changing “grabbing
out” so that it fits the poem.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Now the poem has humans talking about the Jabberwocky, warning
their sons of his claws and bite.

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!“

There is no written documentation on what a
jubjub or bandersnatch actually is or even a
clue onto what it could look like. The
appearance of these two is completely up to
the reader.

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought.

Now the son is going hunting for the creatures
above and using the worpal sword.
Now we see why there was
a warning in the first place.
Apparently, the son is going
hunting for these creatures.
Maybe they are disturbing the
otherwise peaceful wood.

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought

Another form of nonsense words is the Tumtum
tree. And now he is sitting under the tree thinking.
We might not know what a Tumtum tree is, but
the rest of these lines are very clear.
 Our hero has been seeking his foes for a while, and
is now taking a break.
 So he rests by the tree, and loses himself thinking
for a little while.


And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwocky, with eyes of
flame
• Uffish is a nonsense word and there is no way to tell excatly what it means. But the eyes of
flame desribes the eyes of the Jabberwocky.
• The flame detail also cements the Jabberwock's place in the story as villain. If you think
about it, the biggest good vs. evil story we have is that between Heaven and Hell. And
what's Hell made of? Fire.
• Came whiffling through the tulgey
wood,
And burbled as it came!
• The Jabberwocky is now coming throught
the woods
• Here comes the monster – and our
mystery verb is whiffling. What could it
mean? It sounds a bit like whistling, but
the last time we checked, dragon-ish
creatures didn't whistle while they
attacked you. But! Whistling can also
mean "to move very fast," which is much
more likely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFJwDP
Nr0kE
 One, two! One, two! And through
and through
The vorpal blade went snickersnack!
 These are straight action lines here. And it's
exciting, hence all the exclamation points. This
is high adventure, told in an excited manner.
 These hearty motion words and onomatopoeia
give these lines a very action-movie feel to
them. The plot is rushing past us, and all we see
is a blur of motion, and a flickering blade. All
we hear is the sound of metal meeting flesh.
He
left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

Why take the head? Well, this is a tradition that extends
from ancient to modern times. Certainly we've all seen
trophy deer/moose/bear heads on hunting cabin walls,
and this is probably no different. It's proof that the animal
has been conquered, and a memento for a job well done
 "And
hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
 The setting has changed again.
 Now the son is back at home, and the parental figure is speaking again.
 The Parents are cherishing the boy and celebrating that he had slain the mighty
creature
 O frabjous
day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

Frabjous sounds a whole lot like fabulous, doesn't it? Maybe
a combination of fabulous and joyous, just to get that "j"
sound in there. And also because we know by this point that
Carroll does love combining words.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.