Jabberwocky - Lewis Carroll

'Twas 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the slimy badgers
Did whirl round and make holes in the grass plot around a sundial;
All unhappy were the thin-shabby birds
And the home green pigs bellowed/whistled with a sneeze in between.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the desperate bird, and shun
The furious/fuming swiftmoving creature with snapping jaws.


He took his deadly/extremely sharp sword in hand;
Long time the monstrous/fearsome foe he sought --
So he rested by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in gruffish/roughish/huffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came blowing/driving through the dense/dark wood,
And bleated/murmured/proclaimed as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The deadly/extremely sharp blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galloping triumphantly back.

'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy
O fair/fabulous/joyous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chuckled/snorted in his joy.

'Twas 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the slimy badgers
Did whirl round and make holes in the grass plot around a sundial;
All unhappy were the thin-shabby birds
And the home green pigs bellowed/whistled with a sneeze in between.

This poem is nearly impossible to read. When I first started reading it, I thought I'd try to figure out the words on my own -- maybe they were Old English for some words I already knew. But as it turned out, that wasn't the case, since all the words I thought it could have meant, made absolutely no sense (although I guess that could have been what Carroll was going for here). So as I was trying to find the definitions to all the words I did not know (which, I'm sure you can assume, took a very very long time) I stumbled across the Wikipedia article for this poem, which took each word and defined it, or at least the best assumption as to what it meant. I love how Carroll made up his own words, and it's so totally something I'd want to do. I've heard that Lewis Carroll was a pretty messed up individual, and it certainly shows in his writing. However, it's just soo much fun picturing all these ficticious creatures in the forest. Certainly reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. The tulgey wood he speaks of in line 15 reminds me of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo; there's a world in there that is called the Forest of Illusion, and since most of the creatures in that game are ficticious, this poem really reminded me of it.

I think the message Carroll is trying to get across here though is cute. The boy in this poem is out to kill the Jabberwock, which is the name of a monster in Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, which I suppose is based on the term jabberwocky, referring to nonsense and meaningless langugage. He also wants to "shun the frumious Bandersnatch" (Lines 7-8) and beware of the Jubjub bird (Line 6). If we look at the big picture then, these are all things that hinder our lives - nonsense and meaningless language slow down the process of thinking or activity. The Jubjub bird, or a bird of desperation, refers to desperation itself, and how we really don't want to get stuck in desperation, but we should try to overcome it. The Bandersnatch is a swift moving creature, which we have to learn how to defeat, because this other creature, if it moves fast enough, can defeat us first, so we have to learn how to be quick or witty. Since the boy has defeated all three of the above, he has defeated some of life's most prevalent issues.

This poem was written in such a style that describes most people's lives; it's messy and jumbled and hard to make sense out of. But if you're patient enough to weed through it, a sense of gratification and reward comes through you.