JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872) `Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid 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!"
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 --
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!
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.
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.
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.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Jabberwocky, of course, is a poem from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Despite the Alice books being often thought of as children's books, I didn't get around to reading them until I was an adult. When I did, I was spellbound. I was reading away, with quiet enjoyment, when I came across Jabberwocky. I read it, paused, and read it again. Pondered for a while, then read it again. Jabberwocky beautifully skates the thin edge of being understood and being nonsense. But such glorious nonsense! As Alice put it,
"It seems very pretty," she said when she had finished it, "but it's rather hard to understand!" (You see she didn't like to confess even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas--only I don't exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate---"
Jabberwockies seem to pop up all over the place . . . .
...in print...
- In 1943, there was a fun science fiction story called "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", written by a Lewis Padgett (pen name for Henry Kuttner and his wife C.L. Moore) in which a group of children begin to actually understand the poem, which leads them shortly thereafter into a new world... The story has been reprinted in The Golden Years of Science Fiction: Third Series, among other places, and I highly recommend it.
- There is an excellent detective / fantastic novel called "Night of The Jabberwock".
- Mandi wrote in to tell me about "The Mansion in the Mist" by John Bellairs, where the word "wabe" (for the grass around a sundial) was used as an important clue to solve the mystery.
...on the big screen...
- According to the Internet Movie Database there have been two movies based on the poem.
- In Disney's Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat sang Jabberwocky. I guess they couldn't really have swords and killing and such in a movie indended for kids, but really now - kids have been reading Through the Looking Glass for generations.
- A quote attributed to the famous British actor Nicol Williamson :
"The mome rath isn't born that could outgrabe me!"
...on the little screen...
- The 5th and last season (1980) of the late, lamented, and very sorely missed Muppet Show had an episode starring Brooke Shields which covered bits and pieces of both Alice books. The high point (to me, anyway) was their take on Jabberwocky, with Rowlf (the dog) fighting a giant puppet Jabberwock which looked exactly like the Tenniel illustration! ~~~>
Narrator: ...and with its head, he went galumphing back.
Rowlf: galumph! galumph! galumph! galumph! - Remember the Doctor Who rebroadcasts on PBS? In "The Silurians" (a classic about ancient reptile-men trying to take over the Earth) you will find the good Doctor, repairing Bessie while singing "Twas brillig..." !
- In the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren," Kirk and Spock sing:
I'm Tweedledee, he's Tweedledum.
We're spacemen marching to and from.
We slythe among the mimsy troves,
And tire among the borogroves.
...on stage...
- The Brigham Young University Children and Teen Creative Dance group performed a Jabberwocky dance in 1995.
...in schools...
- David Godfrey wrote in to Glorious Nonsense (SOURCE) share this about his high school:
Scarsdale High School, in New York, has many a Jabberwocky reference within its walls. Our school mascot is a large maroon dragon named Bandy. Our yearbook is called Bandersnatch. We have 2 nights of student bands performing, one in the spring and one in the fall, named Jabberfest. Our Literary magazine is named Jabberwocky.
...in translation...
- One of the heights of geek humor ever since Digital put their Altavista Babelfish translation service online, is to feed text to the computer translator, translate it into a foreign language, and then translate it back. Here is a stanza of Jabberwocky, translated into German, and then translated back to English:
`Beware Jabberwock, my son! The Kiefer, which beien, the grip arms, which intercept! Watch out the bird Jubjub, and avoid you frumious the Bandersnatch! ', he took its vorpal to blade into the hand: Long time manxomefeind, which it looked up -- in such a way stood still it by the tree Tumtum, and confessed one while in the thought.
- Keith Lim's "the jabberwocky variations" is a really neat collection of Jabberwocky translations. Have you ever wondered what Jabberwocky would look like in Latin (Hora aderat briligi. Nunc et Slythia Tova....)?
- Here is Jabberwocky in Hebrew. (H/T David Shaw)
- Here's a version in Yiddish from Raphael Finkel at the University of Kentucky.
...in art...
- Graeme Base drew "Jabberwocky", a book of fun illustrations for the poem. Even better is his " Jabberwocky: A Book of Brillig Dioramas". This is a delightful book that unfolds into a series of three-dimensional dioramas - one for each stanza of the poem.
...on vacation...
- In Monterey, California, there is a bed & breakfast inn called The Jabberwock. This place has rooms named "The Wimsey", and "The Tulgey Wood". Even their phone number is "(888) I BURBLE"!
...in song...
- In 1970, for the movie-documentary "You Are What You Eat", Peter Yarrow (more commonly seen along with Paul and Mary) wrote and performed a song called "The Wabe". I don't want to violate anyone's copyright too badly, so here are just the opening lyrics as a 159k AU or a 318k WAV.
- Johns Hopkins is big on a cappella music, so this one struck me as particularly nice: Brown University's oldest a cappella group is known as (not much suspense here, folks, after all this is a Jabberwocky page) The Jabberwocks.
...even on the net...
- Josh and Joel Birenbaum's outstanding The Lewis Carroll Home Page. What can I say? This is a serious piece of research. Kudos to them for making it.
- Jwocky's page. Stretch your browser window to full screen size, and enjoy. It's gorgeous.
- Clare has some fun versions, including a spell-checked jabberwocky, and one that was handwritten on an Apple Newton.
