Parts of Speech Review
JABBERWOCKY
By Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
‘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.
Parts of Speech Review
The Task…
Although the strange words have no precise meaning, they seem to carry subtle
overtones. In other words, Lewis Carroll used a lot of nonsense words, but you can
still understand the story.
With that in mind (and your knowledge of various parts of speech), you are going to
go through the poem and label each word with its appropriate part of speech. Use
the “Parts of Speech” review sheet if you need help (and also your pronoun notes!).
Essentially, by using the words that you already know the “vague” meanings of and
substituting new words for the nonsense ones, you should be able to figure out what
part of speech each word is.
For example,
‘Twas brilling and the slithy toves
You know that “‘twas” means “it was,” “and” is a conjunction, and “the” is an article.
We can guess that “brillig,” which refers back to “it,” is a pronoun. We also know
“toves” is a noun because it is plural and because if a noun is put behind “the” it
makes sense. Also, “slithy” must be an adjective because it is describing the word
“toves.”
We will review what you come up with as a class, so be prepared to share!
Parts of Speech Review
Article
· the, a , or an
Noun
· a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, quality, or idea
i.e. man, city, school
Proper Noun
· a word that refers to a particular individual in a group or class
i.e. Albert Lawson, Toledo, Central Cambria High School, Aunt Theresa
Pronoun
· a word that substitutes for a noun
Personal Pronouns
· substitute for definite persons or things
i.e. I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Demonstrative Pronouns
· substitute for things being pointed out
i.e. this, that, these, those
Indefinite Pronouns
· substitute for unknown or unspecified things
i.e. each, either, neither, one, anyone, somebody, everything, all, few, many
Possessive Pronouns
· substitute for things that are possessed
i.e. mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
Verb
· a word that expresses action, existence, or occurrence by combining with a subject
to make a statement, to ask a question, or to give a command
i.e. She will paint the car.
Adjective
· a word that describes or limits a noun
i.e. The small child left.
Adverb
· a word that modifies anything except a noun or a pronoun
i.e. John performed well. I could barely hear the speaker.
Hint:
Answers the questions: How? When? Where?
Parts of Speech Review
A Jabberwocky Glossary
There are two main sources to assist you in understanding the poem. One is Lewis
Carroll himself. In one of a series of private little “periodicals” that young Carroll
wrote, illustrated, and hand-lettered for the amusement of his siblings, he described
a “curious fragment.” After a drawing of it, he proceeded to interpret some of the
words. These explanations are listed below.
The other source of explanations comes from Humpty Dumpty, whom Alice meets in
Chapter VI of the book. He also provides explanations of some of the words -- not
always the same as Carroll. These too are listed below.
(*Definitions pulled from http://webpages.math.luc.edu/~vande/jabglossary.html)
WORD
brillig
slithy
tove
gyre
gimble
wabe
Carroll’s explanation
Bryllyg (derived from the
verb to bryl or broil). The
time of broiling dinner, i.e.
the close of the afternoon.
Slythy (compounded of
slimy and lithe). Smooth
and active.
Tove, a species of badger.
They had smooth white
hair, long hind legs, and
short horns like a stag;
lived chiefly on cheese.
“Toves” should be
pronounced to rhyme
with “groves.”
Gyre, verb (derived from
gyaour or giaour, ‘a dog’).
To scratch like a dog.
Gymble (whence gimblet).
To screw out holes in
anything.
Wabe (derived from the
verb to swab or soak). The
side of a hill (from its
being soaked by the rain.)
Humpty Dumpty’s
explanation
Four o'clock in the
afternoon -- the time
when you begin broiling
things for dinner.
Lithe and slimy. Lithe is
the same as ‘active.’ ... It's
like a portmanteau -there are two meanings
packed up into one word.
Something like badgers -they're something like
lizards -- and they are
something like
corkscrews. ... They make
their nests under sundials
-- also they live on cheese.
To go round and round
like a gyroscope.
To make holes like a
gimlet.
The grass plot round a
sundial ... because it goes a
long way before it, and a
long way behind it ... and a
long way beyond it on
each side.
Parts of Speech Review
mimsy
Mimsy (whence
mimserable and
miserable.) Unhappy.
mome
Flimsy and miserable.
I'm not certain about
mome. I think it's short for
‘from home’ -- meaning
that they'd lost their way.
A rath is a sort of green
pig.
Outgribing is something
between bellowing and
whistling, with a kind of
sneeze in the middle.
raths
outgrabe
borogoves
Borogove. An extinct kind
of parrot. They had no
wings, beaks turned up,
and made their nests
under sundails; lived on
veal.
The first ‘o’ in ‘borogoves’
is pronounced like the ‘o’
in ‘worry.’ The word is
commonly
mispronounced as
“borogroves” ... and this
misspelling even appears
in some American editions
of the book.
.
A thin shabby-looking bird
with its feathers sticking
out all round -- something
like a live mop.