JABBERWOCKY
Tuesday, May 30th, 2006`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.
***
That is is the poem I have admired since I read its verses in my Syntax class (and not in my poetry class): JABBERWOCKY from Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There). Do you know the meaning of that poem?
There are plenty of hard words there. "Brillig" means four o’clock in the afternoon — the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."slithy" means "lithe and slimy." "Lithe" is the same as "active." You see it’s like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word."toves" are something like badgers — they’re something like lizards — and they’re something like corkscrews (They must be very curious looking creatures). To "gyre" is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To "gimble" is to make holes like a gimblet. And "the wabe" is the grass-plot round a sun-dial. It’s called "wabe" because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it — And a long way beyond it on each side. Then, "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable" (there’s another portmanteau for you). And a "borogove" is a thing shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round — something like a live mop. And then "mome raths"? Well, a "rath" is a sort of green pig: but "mome" I’m not certain about. I think it’s short for "from home" — meaning that they’d lost their way.
And what does "outgrabe" mean?
Well, "outgribing" is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle: however, you’ll hear it done, maybe — down in the wood yonder — and when you’ve once heard it you’ll be quite content.
Huahh…..that’s what the Humpty Dumpty said to Alice!