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{{Short description|Nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
[[File:Jabberwocky.jpg|right|thumb|The Jabberwock, as illustrated by [[John Tenniel]], 1871]]
"'''Jabberwocky'''" is a [[Nonsense verse|nonsense poem]] written by [[Lewis Carroll]] about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]'', the sequel to ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' (1865). The book tells of Alice's adventures within the [[Parallel universes in fiction|back-to-front world]] of the [[Looking-Glass world]].

In an early scene in which she first encounters the chess piece characters [[White King (Through the Looking-Glass)|White King]] and [[White Queen (Through the Looking-Glass)|White Queen]], Alice finds a book written in a seemingly unintelligible language. Realising that she is travelling through an inverted world, she recognises that the verses on the pages are written in [[mirror writing]]. She holds a mirror to one of the poems and reads the reflected verse of "Jabberwocky". She finds the nonsense verse as puzzling as the odd land she has passed into, later revealed as a dreamscape.<ref name="AAW64"/>

"Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English.<ref name=" Gardner">{{cite book |last=Gardner |first=Martin |title=The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition|year=1999 |publisher=W. W. Norton and Company |location=New York, NY|quote=Few would dispute that Jabberwocky is the greatest of all nonsense poems in English.}}</ref><ref name="NCTE">{{cite journal |last=Rundus |first=Raymond J.|date=October 1967 |title="O Frabjous Day!": Introducing Poetry |journal=The English Journal |volume=56 |issue=7 |pages=958–963 |doi=10.2307/812632 |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |jstor=812632}}</ref> Its playful, whimsical language has given English [[nonsense word]]s and [[neologism]]s such as "[[wikt:galumphing|galumphing]]" and "[[wikt:chortle|chortle]]".

==Origin and publication==
[[File:Aliceroom2.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Alice entering the [[Looking-Glass world]]. Illustration by [[John Tenniel]], 1871]]
A decade before the publication of ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' and the sequel ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]'', Carroll wrote the first stanza to what would become "Jabberwocky" while in [[Croft-on-Tees]], where his parents resided. It was printed in 1855 in ''[[Mischmasch]]'', a periodical he wrote and illustrated for the amusement of his family. The piece, titled "Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry", reads:

{{blockquote|<poem>
Twas bryllyg, and þ<sup>e</sup> slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in þ<sup>e</sup> wabe:
All mimsy were þ<sup>e</sup> borogoves;
And þ<sup>e</sup> mome raths outgrabe.
</poem>}}

The stanza is printed first in faux-mediaeval lettering as a "relic of ancient Poetry" (in which ''þ<sup>e</sup>'' is [[English articles#Ye form|a form of the word ''the'']]) and printed again "in modern characters".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/lewis-carroll-juvenilia-stanza-of-anglo-saxon-poetry |title=Lewis Carroll juvenilia: 'Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry' |publisher=The British Library |date=2014-04-16 |access-date=2016-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109144006/http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/lewis-carroll-juvenilia-stanza-of-anglo-saxon-poetry |archive-date=9 Nov 2016}}</ref>
The rest of the poem was written during Carroll's stay with relatives at [[Whitburn, Tyne and Wear|Whitburn]], near [[Sunderland]]. The story may have been partly inspired by the local Sunderland area legend of the [[Lambton Worm]]<ref>''A Town Like Alice's'' (1997) Michael Bute Heritage Publications, Sunderland</ref><ref>''Alice in Sunderland'' (2007) Brian Talbot Dark Horse publications.</ref> and the tale of the [[Sockburn Worm]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/CroftLewisCarroll.html|title=Vikings and the Jabberwock: Croft, Sockburn and Sadberge|access-date=7 July 2017|archive-date=27 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927015813/https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/CroftLewisCarroll.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The concept of nonsense verse was not original to Carroll, who would have known of [[chapbooks]] such as ''[[The World Turned Upside Down]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-world-turned-upside-down-18th-century/ |title=The World Turned Upside Down (18th century) |publisher=The Public Domain Review |access-date=2016-08-10 |archive-date=29 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329050410/http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-world-turned-upside-down-18th-century/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and stories such as "[[The Grand Panjandrum]]". Nonsense existed in [[Shakespeare]]'s work and was well-known in the [[Brothers Grimm]]'s fairytales, some of which are called lying tales or ''lügenmärchen''.<ref>Carpenter (1985), 55–56</ref> Biographer [[Roger Lancelyn Green]] suggested that "Jabberwocky" was a parody of the German ballad "[[The Shepherd of the Giant Mountains]]",<ref Name="Lucas">"Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" by Lucas, Peter J. in ''Language History and Linguistic Modelling'' (1997) p503-520 {{ISBN|978-3-11-014504-5}}</ref><ref Name="Hudson">Hudson, Derek (1977) ''Lewis Carroll: an illustrated biography''. Crown Publishers, 76</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Making of the Alice Books: Lewis Carroll's Uses of Earlier Children's Literature | author=Ronald Reichertz | publisher=McGill-Queen's Press | year=2000 | isbn=0-7735-2081-3 | page=99 }}</ref> which had been translated into English by Carroll's cousin [[Menella Bute Smedley]] in 1846.<ref Name="Hudson"/><ref>Martin Gardner (2000) ''The Annotated Alice''. New York: Norton p 154, n. 42.</ref> Historian Sean B. Palmer suggests that Carroll was inspired by a section from Shakespeare's ''[[Hamlet]]'', citing the lines: "The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead&nbsp;/ Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets" from Act&nbsp;I, Scene&nbsp;i.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inamidst.com/notes/hamwocky |title="Hamlet and Jabberwocky" ''Essays by Sean Palmer'' 21 Aug 2005 |publisher=Inamidst.com |date=2005-08-21 |access-date=2018-10-03}}</ref><ref>Carroll makes later reference to the same lines from ''Hamlet'' Act I, Scene i in the 1869 poem "Phantasmagoria". He wrote: "Shakspeare {{sic}} I think it is who treats&nbsp;/ Of Ghosts, in days of old,&nbsp;/ Who 'gibbered in the Roman streets".</ref>
<!-- He altered the spelling for ''Through the Looking Glass''.<ref Name="Hudson"/> -->

[[John Tenniel]] reluctantly agreed to illustrate the book in 1871,<ref Name="Prickett"/> and his illustrations are still the defining images of the poem. The illustration of the Jabberwock may reflect the contemporary Victorian obsession with [[natural history]] and the fast-evolving sciences of [[palaeontology]] and [[geology]]. Stephen Prickett notes that in the context of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] and [[Gideon Mantell|Mantell's]] publications and vast exhibitions of dinosaurs, [[Crystal Palace Dinosaurs|such as those at the Crystal Palace]] from 1854, it is unsurprising that Tenniel gave the Jabberwock "the leathery wings of a [[pterodactyl]] and the long scaly neck and tail of a [[sauropod]]."<ref Name="Prickett">Prickett, Stephen (2005) ''Victorian Fantasy'' Baylor University Press p80 {{ISBN|1-932792-30-9}}</ref>

==Lexicon==
{{Quote box |align=right |
 |quote = <poem>
"'''Jabberwocky'''"

'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 hast 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.
</poem>
 |salign=right|source =from ''[[Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There|Through the Looking-Glass, and<br />What Alice Found There]]'' (1871)}}
{{listen
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|title       = "Jabberwocky" (UK English)
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Many of the words in the poem are playful [[nonce word]]s of Carroll's own invention, without intended explicit meaning. When [[Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Alice]] has finished reading the poem she gives her impressions:

{{blockquote|"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."<ref name="AAW64">Carroll, Lewis (2010) ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass'' pp 64–65 Createspace ltd {{ISBN|1-4505-7761-X}}</ref>}}

This may reflect Carroll's intention for his readership; the poem is, after all, part of a dream. In later writings he discussed some of his lexicon, commenting that he did not know the specific meanings or sources of some of the words; the linguistic ambiguity and uncertainty throughout both the book and the poem may largely be the point.<ref name="Parsons"/>

In ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the character of [[Humpty Dumpty#In Through the Looking-Glass|Humpty Dumpty]], in response to Alice's request, explains to her the non-sense words from the first stanza of the poem, but Carroll's personal commentary on several of the words differ from Humpty Dumpty's. For example, following the poem, a "rath" is described by Humpty Dumpty as "a sort of green pig".<ref name="AAW96"/> Carroll's notes for the original in ''[[Mischmasch]]'' suggest a "rath" is "a species of Badger" that "lived chiefly on cheese" and had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag.<ref name="Penguin"/> The appendices to certain ''Looking Glass'' editions state that the creature is "a species of land turtle" that lived on swallows and oysters.<ref name="Penguin"/> Later critics added their own interpretations of the lexicon, often without reference to Carroll's own contextual commentary. An extended analysis of the poem and Carroll's commentary is given in the book ''[[The Annotated Alice]]'' by [[Martin Gardner]].

In 1868, Carroll asked his publishers, [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]], "Have you any means, or can you find any, for printing a page or two in the next volume of Alice in reverse?" It may be that Carroll was wanting to print the whole poem in mirror writing. Macmillan responded that it would cost a great deal more to do, and this may have dissuaded him.<ref name="Penguin"/>

In the author's note to the Christmas 1896 edition of ''Through the Looking-Glass'' Carroll writes, "The new words, in the poem Jabberwocky, have given rise to some differences of opinion as to their pronunciation, so it may be well to give instructions on ''that'' point also. Pronounce 'slithy' as if it were the two words, 'sly, thee': make the 'g' ''hard'' in 'gyre' and 'gimble': and pronounce 'rath' to rhyme with 'bath'."<ref>Carroll, Lewis (2005) ''Through the Looking Glass''. Hayes Barton Press p. 4</ref>

In the Preface to ''[[The Hunting of the Snark]]'', Carroll wrote, "[Let] me take this opportunity of answering a question that has often been asked me, how to pronounce 'slithy toves'. The 'i' in 'slithy' is long, as in 'writhe', and 'toves' is pronounced so as to rhyme with 'groves'. Again, the first "o" in "borogoves" is pronounced like the 'o' in 'borrow'. I have heard people try to give it the sound of the 'o' in 'worry'. Such is Human Perversity."<ref name="HoS"/>

==Possible interpretations of words{{anchor|Glossary}}==
* [[Bandersnatch]]: A swift moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its neck.<ref name="HoS">{{cite book|author=Lewis Carroll|title=The Annotated Hunting of the Snark|others=edited with notes by [[Martin Gardner]], illustrations by Henry Holiday and others, introduction by [[Adam Gopnik]]|isbn=0-393-06242-2|publisher=W. W. Norton|edition=Definitive|year=2006|orig-date=1876}}</ref> A "bander" was also an archaic word for a "leader", suggesting that a "bandersnatch" might be an animal that hunts the leader of a group.<ref name="Penguin"/>
* [[wikt:beamish|Beamish]]: Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful. Although Carroll may have believed he had coined this word, usage in 1530 is cited in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.<ref name="ExplanatoryN">{{cite book|author=Carroll, Lewis|year=2009|title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass|chapter=Explanatory notes|editor=Hunt, Peter|publisher=OUP Oxford|page=283|isbn=978-0-19-955829-2}} References the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (1530).</ref>
* [[wikt:borogove|Borogove]]: Following the poem, Humpty Dumpty says: {{"'}}borogove' is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, something like a live mop." In ''[[Mischmasch]]'' borogoves are described differently: "An extinct kind of Parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, and made their nests under sun-dials: lived on veal."<ref name="Penguin"/> In ''Hunting of the Snark'', Carroll says that the initial syllable of ''borogove'' is pronounced as in ''borrow'' rather than as in ''worry''.<ref name="HoS"/>
* [[wikt:brillig|Brillig]]: Following the poem, the character of Humpty Dumpty comments: {{"'}}Brillig' means four o'clock in the afternoon, the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."<ref name="AAW96"/> According to ''[[Mischmasch]]'', it is derived from the verb to ''bryl'' or ''broil''.
* [[wikt:burble|Burbled]]: In a letter of December 1877, Carroll notes that "burble" could be a mixture of the three verbs 'bleat', 'murmur', and 'warble', although he did not remember creating it.<ref name="ExplanatoryN"/><ref name="ReferenceA">Lewis Carroll, Letter to Maud Standen, December 1877</ref>
* [[wikt:chortle|Chortled]]: "Combination of 'chuckle' and 'snort'." ([[OED]])
* [[wikt:frabjous|Frabjous]]: Possibly a blend of "fair", "fabulous", and "joyous". Definition from ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', credited to Lewis Carroll.
* [[wikt:frumious|Frumious]]: Combination of "fuming" and "furious". In the Preface to ''The Hunting of the Snark'' Carroll comments, "[T]ake the two words 'fuming' and 'furious'. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards 'fuming', you will say 'fuming-furious'; if they turn, by even a hair's breadth, towards 'furious', you will say 'furious-fuming'; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say 'frumious'."<ref name="HoS"/>
* [[wikt:galumphing|Galumphing]]: Perhaps used in the poem as a blend of "gallop" and "triumphant".<ref name="ExplanatoryN"/> Used later by [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling]], and cited by Webster as "To move with a clumsy and heavy tread"<ref>{{cite book|title=The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories|year=1991|publisher=Merriam Webster|page=247|isbn=0-87779-603-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ekrgc3RowTgC&q=galumphing+kipling&pg=PA269|title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; And, Through the Looking-glass and what Alice Found There|year=1998|author=Lewis Carroll, Roger Lancelyn Green|publisher=John Tenniel Oxford University Press|page=269|isbn=978-0-19-283374-7}}</ref>
* [[Gimble]]: Humpty Dumpty comments that it means: "to make holes like a [[Gimlet (tool)|gimlet]]."<ref name="AAW96">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAAn1XKaOJoC&q=%22To+make+holes+like+a+gimlet%22&pg=PA199|author=Carroll, Lewis|year=1998|title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass|pages=198–199|publisher=Wordsworth Editions|isbn=1-85326-897-6}}</ref>
* [[wikt:gyre|Gyre]]: "To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope."<ref name="AAW96"/> ''Gyre'' is entered in the [[OED]] from 1420, meaning a circular or spiral motion or form; especially a giant circular oceanic surface current. Carroll also wrote in ''[[Mischmasch]]'' that it meant to scratch like a dog.<ref name="Penguin"/> The ''g'' is pronounced like the /g/ in ''gold'', not like ''gem'' (since this was how "gyroscope" was pronounced in Carroll's day).<ref name="tlgp">From the preface to ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]''.</ref>
* [[wikt:Jabberwock|Jabberwock]]: When a class in the [[Girls' Latin School]] in Boston asked Carroll's permission to name their school magazine ''The Jabberwock'', he replied: "The [[Anglo-Saxon]] word 'wocer' or 'wocor' signifies 'offspring' or 'fruit'. Taking 'jabber' in its ordinary acceptation of 'excited and voluble discussion', this would give the meaning of 'the result of much excited and voluble discussion'..."<ref name="Penguin">[https://books.google.com/books?id=zfymo8bZhEIC&pg=PA328&q=%22%20the%20next%20volume%20of%20Alice%20in%20reverse%22 Carroll, Lewis (Author), Tenniel, John] (2003). ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass'', pp. 328–331. Penguin Classics. {{ISBN|0-14-143976-9}}</ref> It is often depicted as a monster similar to a [[dragon]]. John Tenniel's illustration depicts it with a long serpentine neck, rabbit-like teeth, spidery talons, bat-like wings and, as a humorous touch, a waistcoat. In the 2010 film version of [[Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)|''Alice in Wonderland'']] it is shown with large back legs, small dinosaur-like front legs, and on the ground it uses its wings as front legs like a [[pterosaur]], and it breathes out lightning flashes rather than flame.
* [[Jubjub bird]]: "A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion", according to the Butcher in Carroll's later poem ''[[The Hunting of the Snark]]''.<ref name="HoS"/> 'Jub' is an ancient word for a [[Jerkin (garment)|jerkin]] or a dialect word for the trot of a horse (OED). It might make reference to the call of the bird resembling the sound "jub, jub".<ref name="Penguin"/>
* [[wikt:manxome|Manxome]]: Possibly 'fearsome'; Possibly a portmanteau of "manly" and "buxom", the latter relating to men for most of its history; or "three-legged" after the [[triskelion]] emblem of the [[Manx people]] from the [[Isle of Man]].
* [[wikt:mimsy|Mimsy]]: Humpty Dumpty comments that {{"'}}Mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable{{'"}}.<ref name="AAW96"/>
* Mome: Humpty Dumpty is uncertain about this one: "I think it's short for 'from home', meaning that they'd lost their way, you know". The notes in ''[[Mischmasch]]'' give a different definition of 'grave' (via 'solemome', 'solemone' and 'solemn').
* Outgrabe: Humpty Dumpty says {{"'}}outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle".<ref name="AAW96"/> Carroll's book appendices suggest it is the past tense of the verb to 'outgribe', connected with the old verb to 'grike' or 'shrike', which derived 'shriek' and 'creak' and hence 'squeak'.<ref name="Penguin"/>
* Rath: Humpty Dumpty says following the poem: "A 'rath' is a sort of green pig". Carroll's notes for the original in ''[[Mischmasch]]'' state that a 'Rath' is "a species of land turtle. Head erect, mouth like a shark, the front forelegs curved out so that the animal walked on its knees, smooth green body, lived on swallows and oysters."<ref name="Penguin"/> In the [[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|1951 animated film adaptation of the previous book]], the raths are depicted as small, multi-coloured creatures with tufty hair, round eyes, and long legs resembling pipe stems.
* [[wikt:slithy|Slithy]]: Humpty Dumpty says: {{"'}}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."<ref name="AAW96"/> The original in ''Mischmasch'' notes that 'slithy' means "smooth and active".<ref name="Penguin"/> The ''i'' is long, as in ''writhe''.
* [[wikt:snicker-snack|Snicker-snack]]: possibly related to the large knife, the [[wikt:snickersnee|snickersnee]].<ref name="ExplanatoryN"/>
* Tove: Humpty Dumpty says {{"'}}Toves' are something like badgers, they're something like lizards, and they're something like corkscrews. ... Also they make their nests under sun-dials, also they live on cheese."<ref name="AAW96"/> Pronounced so as to rhyme with ''groves''.<ref name="HoS"/> They "gyre and gimble", i.e., rotate and bore. Toves are described slightly differently in ''[[Mischmasch]]'': "a species of Badger [which] had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag [and] lived chiefly on cheese".<ref name="Penguin"/>
* [[wikt:tulgey|Tulgey]]: Carroll himself said he could give no source for this word. It could be taken to mean thick, dense, dark. It has been suggested that it comes from the [[Anglo-Cornish]] word ''tulgu'', 'darkness', which in turn comes from [[Cornish language|Cornish]] ''tewolgow'' 'darkness, gloominess'.<ref>George, Ken. ''An Gerlyver Meur, Cornish-English, English-Cornish Dictionary''. Cornish Language Board, 2009. Part One, Cornish-English, p. 624.</ref>
* [[wikt:uffish|Uffish]]: Carroll noted, "It seemed to suggest a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish".<ref name="ExplanatoryN"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* [[wikt:vorpal|Vorpal]]: Carroll said he could not explain this word, though it has been noted that it can be formed by taking letters alternately from "verbal" and "gospel".<ref name=AnnotatedAlice>{{cite book|editor-last=Gardner|editor-first=Martin|title=[[The Annotated Alice]]|year=1971|publisher=The World Publishing Company|location=New York|pages=195–196|orig-date=1960}}</ref> It has appeared in dictionaries as meaning both 'deadly' and 'extremely sharp'.<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/vorpal Collins definition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014122209/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/vorpal |date=14 October 2022 }}</ref>
* Wabe: The characters in the poem suggest it means "The grass plot around a sundial", called a 'wa-be' because it "goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it".<ref name="AAW96"/> In the original ''Mischmasch'' text, Carroll states a 'wabe' is "the side of a hill (from its being soaked by rain)".<ref name="Penguin"/>

==Linguistics and poetics==
[[File:Humpty Dumpty Tenniel.jpg|thumb|right|[[Humpty Dumpty#In Through the Looking-Glass|Humpty Dumpty]] who explains to Alice the definitions of some of the words in "Jabberwocky". Illustration by [[John Tenniel]], 1871]]
Though the poem contains many nonsensical words, English [[syntax]] and poetic forms are observed, such as the [[quatrain]] verses, the general [[ABAB rhyme scheme]] and the [[Iamb (foot)|iambic]] [[Meter (poetry)|meter]].<ref>Gross and McDowell (1996). ''Sound and form in modern poetry'', p. 15. The University of Michigan Press. {{ISBN|0-472-06517-3}}</ref> Linguist Peter Lucas believes the "nonsense" term is inaccurate. The poem relies on a distortion of sense rather than "non-sense", allowing the reader to infer meaning and therefore engage with narrative while lexical allusions swim under the surface of the poem.<ref Name="Lucas"/><ref>For a full linguistic and phonetic analysis of the poem see the article "Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" by Lucas, Peter J. in ''Language History and Linguistic Modelling'', pp. 503–520. 1997. {{ISBN|3-11-014504-9}}</ref>

Marnie Parsons describes the work as a "[[semiotic]] catastrophe", arguing that the words create a discernible narrative within the structure of the poem, though the reader cannot know what they symbolise. She argues that Humpty Dumpty tries, after the recitation, to "ground" the unruly multiplicities of meaning with definitions, but cannot succeed as both the book and the poem are playgrounds for the "carnivalised aspect of language". Parsons suggests that this is mirrored in the [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] of the poem: in the tussle between the [[tetrameter]] in the first three lines of each stanza and [[trimeter]] in the last lines, such that one undercuts the other and we are left off balance, like the poem's hero.<ref name="Parsons"/>

Carroll wrote many poem parodies such as "[[Twinkle, twinkle little bat]]", "[[You Are Old, Father William]]" and "[[How Doth the Little Crocodile]]?" Some have become generally better known than the originals on which they are based, and this is certainly the case with "Jabberwocky".<ref Name="Lucas"/> The poems' successes do not rely on any recognition of or association with the poems that they parody. Lucas suggests that the original poems provide a strong container but Carroll's works are famous precisely because of their random, surreal quality.<ref Name="Lucas"/> Carroll's grave playfulness has been compared with that of the poet [[Edward Lear]]; there are also parallels with the work of [[Gerard Manley Hopkins]] in the frequent use of soundplay, [[alliteration]], created-language and [[portmanteau]]. Both writers were Carroll's contemporaries.<ref name="Parsons">Parsons, Marnie (1994)  ''Touch monkeys: nonsense strategies for reading twentieth-century poetry'', pp. 67–73. University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|0-8020-2983-3}}</ref>

==Translations==
[[Image:Jabberwocky creatures.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[John Tenniel]]'s illustration for the poem.]]

===History===
"Jabberwocky" has been translated into 65 languages.<ref>Lindseth, Jon A. – Tannenbaum, Alan (eds.): ''Alice in a World of Wonderlands: The Translations of Lewis Carroll's Masterpiece'', vol. I, p. 747. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-58456-331-0}}.</ref> The translation might be difficult because the poem holds to English syntax and many of the principal words of the poem are invented. Translators have generally dealt with them by creating equivalent words of their own. Often these are similar in spelling or sound to Carroll's while respecting the [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] of the language they are being translated into. In Frank L. Warrin's French translation, "'Twas brillig" becomes "Il brilgue". In instances like this, both the original and the invented words echo actual words of Carroll's [[lexicon]], but not necessarily ones with similar meanings. Translators have invented words which draw on root words with meanings similar to the English roots used by Carroll. [[Douglas Hofstadter]] noted in his essay "Translations of Jabberwocky", the word 'slithy', for example, echoes the English 'slimy', 'slither', 'slippery', 'lithe' and 'sly'. A French translation that uses 'lubricilleux' for 'slithy', evokes French words like 'lubrifier' (to lubricate) to give an impression of a meaning similar to that of Carroll's word. In his exploration of the translation challenge, Hofstadter asks "what if a word does exist, but it is very intellectual-sounding and Latinate ('lubricilleux'), rather than earthy and Anglo-Saxon ('slithy')? Perhaps 'huilasse' would be better than 'lubricilleux'? Or does the Latin origin of the word 'lubricilleux' not make itself felt to a speaker of French in the way that it would if it were an English word ('lubricilious', perhaps)? ".<ref name="Hofstadter"/>

Hofstadter also notes that it makes a great difference whether the poem is translated in isolation or as part of a translation of the novel. In the latter case the translator must, through Humpty Dumpty, supply explanations of the invented words. But, he suggests, "even in this pathologically difficult case of translation, there seems to be some rough equivalence obtainable, a kind of rough [[Isomorphism (sociology)|isomorphism]], partly global, partly local, between the brains of all the readers".<ref name="Hofstadter">{{cite book | first = Douglas R. | last = Hofstadter | year = 1980 | title = Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid | chapter = Translations of Jabberwocky | chapter-url = http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/hofstadter.html | isbn = 0-394-74502-7 | publisher = Vintage Books | location = New York, NY | archive-date = 18 March 2006 | access-date = 1 March 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060318060516/http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/hofstadter.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

In 1967, D.G. Orlovskaya wrote a popular Russian translation of  "Jabberwocky" entitled "Barmaglot" ("Бармаглот"). She translated "Barmaglot" for "Jabberwock", "Brandashmyg" for "Bandersnatch" while "myumsiki" ("мюмзики") echoes "mimsy". Full translations of "Jabberwocky" into French and German can be found in ''[[The Annotated Alice]]'' along with a discussion of why some translation decisions were made.<ref>M. Gardner, ed., The Annotated Alice, 1960; London: Penguin 1970, p. 193f.</ref> [[Chao Yuen Ren]], a Chinese linguist, translated the poem into Chinese<ref>{{Cite journal
|doi=10.2307/2718830|title=Dimensions of Fidelity in Translation With Special Reference to Chinese|last=Chao|first=Yuen Ren|author-link=Yuen Ren Chao|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies|volume=29|year=1969|pages=109–130|publisher=Harvard-Yenching Institute|jstor=2718830}}</ref> by inventing characters to imitate what [[Rob Gifford]] of [[National Public Radio]] refers to as the "slithy toves that gyred and gimbled in the wabe of Carroll's original".<ref>[[Rob Gifford|Gifford, Rob]]. "The Great Wall of the Mind." ''China Road''. [[Random House]]. 2008. 237.</ref> [[Satyajit Ray]], a film-maker, translated the work into [[Bengali language|Bengali]]<ref>Robinson, Andrew (2004) ''Satyajit Ray''. I.B. Tauris p29</ref> and [[concrete poet]] [[Augusto de Campos]] created a Brazilian Portuguese version. There is also an Arabic translation<ref>Wael Al-Mahdi (2010) [http://waelalmahdi.com/?p=402 Jabberwocky in Arabic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408045528/http://waelalmahdi.com/?p=402 |date=8 April 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Almahdi |first=Wael |title=The Jabberwocky in Arabic – Version 2 (2023) |url=http://waelalmahdi.com/the-jabberwocky-in-arabic-version-2-2023/ |access-date=2023-04-22 |language=en-US |archive-date=22 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422223653/http://waelalmahdi.com/the-jabberwocky-in-arabic-version-2-2023/ }}</ref> by Wael Al-Mahdi, and at least two into [[Croatian language|Croatian]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Priča o Hudodraku, Karazubu i Jabberwockyju|url=http://www.booksa.hr/kolumne/crv-u-kamenu/prica-o-hudodraku-karazubu-i-jabberwockyju|language=hr|publisher=Kulturtreger / KK Booksa|date=2011-09-24|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124071351/http://www.booksa.hr/kolumne/crv-u-kamenu/prica-o-hudodraku-karazubu-i-jabberwockyju|url-status=live}}</ref> Multiple translations into [[Latin]] were made within the first weeks of Carroll's original publication.<ref name="RAZ">{{cite web|last=Vansittart|first=Augustus Arthur|title=Mors Iabrochii|url=http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/wonderland/jabberwocky.htm|work=Jabberwocky|editor=Zaroff, Ruth Ann|location=London|language=la|year=1872|access-date=4 February 2011|archive-date=9 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209043818/http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/wonderland/jabberwocky.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 1964 article, [[M. L. West]] published two versions of the poem in [[Ancient Greek]] that exemplify the respective styles of the [[epic poets]] [[Homer]] and [[Nonnus]].<ref>[[M. L. West]], "Two Versions of Jabberwocky", ''Greece & Rome'' Vol. 11 No. 2, October 1964, pp. 185–187.</ref>

=== Sample translations ===
Sources:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waxdog.com/jabberwocky/translate.html |title=Jabberwocky Variations |publisher=waxdog.com |access-date=11 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217075708/http://www.waxdog.com/jabberwocky/translate.html |archive-date=17 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations/ |title=jabberwocky/translations |publisher=76.pair.com |access-date=11 August 2016 |archive-date=31 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731203219/http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Carrol |first=Lewis |translator-last=Buckley |translator-first= Ramón |date=1984 |title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice found there |trans-title=Las Aventuras de Alicia |language=es |publisher=Anaya |isbn=84-7525-171-4}}</ref>

{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" border="1" 
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|width=300px|Bulgarian<br />(Lazar Goldman & Stefan Gechev)
|width=300px|Danish 1<br />(Mogens Jermiin Nissen)<br />Jabberwocky
|width=300px|Danish 2<br />(Arne Herløv Petersen)<br />Kloppervok
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:{{lang|bg|Бе сгладне и честлинните комбурси}}
:{{lang|bg|търляха се и сврецваха във плите;}}
:{{lang|bg|съвсем окласни бяха тук щурпите}}
:{{lang|bg|и отма равапсатваха прасурси}}.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Et slidigt gravben vridrede
:i brumringen på tidvis plent,
:og lappingen var vaklig, og
:det borte grøfgrin grent.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:I glummert lys den slyge spæg
:stod gomrende og glim.
:I børkens dyb stod mamren fjæg
:og bungrede i skim.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Esperanto <br />([[Marjorie Boulton]])<br />La Ĵargonbesto
|Turkish <br />(Nihal Yeğinobalı)<br />Ejdercenkname
|Finnish 1<br />(Kirsi Kunnas & Eeva-Liisa Manner, 1974)<br />Pekoraali
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Brilumis, kaj la ŝlirtaj melfoj
:en la iejo ĝiris, ŝraŭis;
:mizaris la maldikdudelfoj,
:forfuraj ratjoj vaŭis.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:akşamözdü, yavışkan burguleler
:döndeleyip cermelerken günsatba
:uyudüşmüş kalmışlardı karpüsler
:yemizler derseniz ak-ök begirba
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:On illanpaisto, ja silkavat saijat
:luopoissa pirkeinä myörien ponkii:
:surheisna kaikk' kirjuvat lorokaijat
:ja vossut lonkaloisistansa ulos vonkii.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Finnish 2<br />(Matti Rosvall, 1999)<br />Jabberwocky<ref>This rendering comes from Rosvall's [[Finnish language|Finnish]] translation of [[Fredric Brown]]'s novel ''Night of the Jabberwock'' (''Syntipukin yö'').</ref>
|Finnish 3<br />(Alice Martin, 2010)<br />Monkerias
|French<br />(Frank L. Warrin)
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Kyryissä mäiden myryt parvat
:ripoen kormivat pällyissään.
:Vilhujen borogrovien karvat
:talsoivat – ne niin sällyissään.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Jo koitti kuumon aika, ja viukkaat puhvenet
:päinillä harpitellen kieruloivat,
:haipeloina seisoksivat varakuhvenet,
:ja öksyt muvut kaikki hinkuroivat.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux
:Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave.
:Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux
:Et le mômerade horsgrave.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Georgian<br />(Giorgi Gokieli)<br />{{lang|ka|ტარტალოკი}}
|German<br />(Robert Scott)
|Hebrew 1<br />(Aharon Amir)<br />{{script/Hebrew|פִּטְעוֹנִי}}
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:{{lang|ka|მიმწუხარშდა. მოქნიალა სლუკები}}
:{{lang|ka|ზილობდნენ და ძვრიალებდნენ მარეხვში;}}
:{{lang|ka|საბუდავად ცხოვდნენ ბარდალუკები,}}
:{{lang|ka|ვით ფშუნები სურდაბილის გარეშე.}}
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Es brillig war. Die schlichten Toven
:Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
:Und aller-mümsige Burggoven
:Die mohmen Räth' ausgraben.
| dir=rtl style="vertical-align: top;"|
:{{script/Hebrew|בְעֵת בָשָׁק וּשְׁלֵי פַּחְזָר}},
:{{script/Hebrew|בְּאַפְסֵי־חָק סָבְסוּ, מָקְדוּ}},
:{{script/Hebrew|אוֹ אָז חִלְכֵּן הָיָה נִמְזַר}},
:{{script/Hebrew|וּמְתֵי־עָרָן כֵּרְדוּ}}.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Hebrew 2<br />(Rina Litvin)<br />{{script/Hebrew|גֶּבֶרִיקָא}}
|Icelandic<br />(Valdimar Briem)<br />Rausuvokkskviða
|Irish<br />([[Nicholas Williams (Celticist)|Nicholas Williams]])<br />An Gheabairleog
|-
| dir=rtl style="vertical-align: top;"|
:{{script/Hebrew|הִבְרִיל כְבָר, זַחְלָצִים קְלִיחִים}}
:{{script/Hebrew|חָגְווּ וְעָגוּ בַּשְּׁבִילֵל,}}
:{{script/Hebrew|מַסִּים הָיוּ הַסְּמַרְלַחִים}}
:{{script/Hebrew|וְחֶזְרוֹנִי צִרְלֵל.}}
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Það leið að stekju, og slýgir greðlar
:sig snældu og böluðu um slöffruna,
:og angurvært sungu sópfiðrungar
:við sífgelt týðmana svíræna.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Briollaic a bhí ann; bhí na tóibhí sleo
:ag gírleáil 's ag gimleáil ar an taof.
:B'an-chuama go deo na borragóibh
:is bhí na rádaí miseacha ag braíomh.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Italian<br />(Adriana Crespi)<br />Il ciarlestrone
|Latin<br />(Hassard H. Dodgson)<br />Gaberbocchus
|Polish<br />([[Janusz Korwin-Mikke]])<br />Żabrołak
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Era brillosto, e gli alacridi tossi
:succhiellavano scabbi nel pantúle:
:Méstili eran tutti i paparossi,
:e strombavan musando i tartarocchi.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Hora aderat briligi. Nunc et Slythia Tova
:Plurima gyrabant gymbolitare vabo;
:Et Borogovorum mimzebant undique formae,
:Momiferique omnes exgrabuere Rathi.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Błyszniało – szlisgich hopuch świr
:Tęczując w kałdach świtrzem wre,
:Mizgłupny był borolągw hyr,
:Chrząszczury wlizły młe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.agh.edu.pl/~szymon/jabberwocky.shtml|title=jabberwocky|publisher=home.agh.edu.pl|access-date=11 August 2016|archive-date=6 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106093924/http://home.agh.edu.pl/~szymon/jabberwocky.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Portuguese 1<br />([[Augusto de Campos]], 1980)<br />Jaguadarte<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Argenta |first1=Marinice |last2=Maggio |first2=Sandra Sirangelo |title=O enigma de "Jabberwocky" na tradução de Augusto de Campos para o português brasileiro |journal=Letrônica |date=26 June 2019 |volume=12 |issue=1 |article-number=32027 |doi=10.15448/1984-4301.2019.1.32027|doi-access=free |hdl=10183/197310 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
|Portuguese 2<br />(Oliveira Ribeiro Neto, 1984)<br />Algaravia<ref name="algaravia">{{cite web |title=A arte de traduzir Lewis Carroll – Revista Bravo – Blog da Psicologia da Educação |url=https://www.ufrgs.br/psicoeduc/variados/traduzir-lewis-carroll/ |website=Blog da Psicologia da Educação |publisher=UFRGS |access-date=1 November 2020 |language=pt-BR |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414140603/https://www.ufrgs.br/psicoeduc/variados/traduzir-lewis-carroll/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|Portuguese 3<br />(Ricardo Gouveia)<br />Blablassauro<ref name="algaravia" />
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Era briluz. As lesmolisas touvas
:Roldavam e reviam nos gramilvos.
:Estavam mimsicais as pintalouvas,
:E os momirratos davam grilvos.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Era o auge e as rolas brilhantes
:Pelo ar giravam, giravam.
:Palhaços davam pinotes,
:Os montes se amontoava.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Brilumia e colescosos touvos
:No capimtanal se giroscavam;
:Miquíticos eram os burrogouvos,
:E os mamirathos extrapitavam.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Russian<br />(Dina Orlovskaya)
|Spanish 1<br />(Ulalume González de León)<br />El Jabberwocky
|Spanish 2<br />(Adolfo de Alba)<br />El Jabberwocky
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Варкалось. Хливкие шорьки
:Пырялись по наве,
:И хрюкотали зелюки,
:Как мюмзики в мове.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Era la parrillhora y los flexiosos tovos
:en el cesplejos giroscopiaban, vibrhoradaban.
:Frivoserables estaban los borogovos
:y los verchinos telehogariados relinchiflaban.
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Era la asarvesperia y los flexilimosos toves
:giroscopiaban taledrando en el vade;
:debilmiseros estaban los borogoves;
:bramatchisilban los verdilechos parde.
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#efe9ef;"
|Spanish 3<br />(Ramón Buckley, 1984)<br />El Fablistanón
|Welsh<br />(Selyf Roberts)<br />Siaberwoci
|American Sign Language (ASL)
(Eric Malzkuhn, 1939)
|-
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Borgotaba. Los viscoleantes toves
:rijando en la solea, tadralaban...
:Misébiles estaban los borgoves
:y algo momios los verdos bratchilbaban
|style="vertical-align: top;"|
:Mae'n brydgell ac mae'r brochgim stwd
:Yn gimblo a gyrian yn y mhello:
:Pob cólomrws yn féddabwd,
:A'r hoch oma'n chwibruo.
|Due to no written language in ASL, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190529230953/http://www.sorensonvrs.com/ericm view video] to see translation of Jabberwocky. (Performed in 1994)
See [https://web.archive.org/web/20160922040138/http://www.formsofcouncil.org/en/inquiries/30_tacet/784_space_time_and_gesture  this link] for explanation of techniques used by Eric Malzkuhn
|}

==Reception==
According to Chesterton and Green and others, the original purpose of "Jabberwocky" was to satirise both pretentious verse and ignorant literary critics. It was designed as verse showing how not to write verse, but eventually became the subject of pedestrian translation or explanation and incorporated into classroom learning.<ref>Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970) ''The Lewis Carroll Handbook'', "Jabberwocky, and other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London</ref> It has also been interpreted as a parody of contemporary Oxford scholarship and specifically the story of how [[Benjamin Jowett]], the notoriously agnostic Professor of Greek at Oxford, and Master of [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]], came to sign the ''[[Thirty-Nine Articles]]'', as an Anglican statement of faith, to save his job.<ref>Prickett, Stephen (2005) ''Victorian Fantasy'' Baylor University Press p113 {{ISBN|1-932792-30-9}}</ref> The transformation of audience perception from satire to seriousness was in a large part predicted by [[G. K. Chesterton]], who wrote in 1932, "Poor, poor, little Alice! She has not only been caught and made to do lessons; she has been forced to inflict lessons on others."<ref>[[G. K. Chesterton|Chesterton, G. K]] (1953) "Lewis Carroll" in ''A Handful of Authors'', ed. Dorothy Collins, Sheed and Ward, London</ref>

It is often now cited as one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English,<ref name="NCTE" /><ref name="Gardner" /> the source for countless parodies and tributes. In most cases the writers have changed the nonsense words into words relating to the parodied subject, as in [[Frank Jacobs]]'s "If Lewis Carroll Were a Hollywood Press Agent in the Thirties" in ''Mad for Better or Verse''.<ref>Jacobs, Frank (1968) ''Mad, for better or verse'' N.A.L</ref> Other writers use the poem as a form, much like a [[sonnet]], and create their own words for it as in "Strunklemiss" by [[Shay K. Azoulay]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smylesandfish.com/lounge/the-canon.php?strunklemiss=1|title=Strunklemiss|work=smylesandfish.com|access-date=26 September 2007|archive-date=12 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012150013/http://smylesandfish.com/lounge/the-canon.php?strunklemiss=1|url-status=live}}</ref> or the poem "Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" recited by [[Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz]] in [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', a 1979 book which contains numerous other references and homages to Carroll's work.<ref name="Cyberspace">{{cite web |author=Robert McFarlane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.douglasadams |title="Lewis Carroll in cyberspace" ''Guardian'' 12 August 2001 |work=The Guardian |date=12 August 2001 |access-date=2018-10-03 |archive-date=14 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914035413/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.douglasadams |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|<poem>
Oh freddled gruntbuggly thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
Groop I implore thee my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my
blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!<ref Name="Cyberspace"/><ref>"Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" by [[Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz]]. In Adams, Douglas (1988) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Pocket Books p65 {{ISBN|0-671-74606-5}}</ref>
</poem>}}

Some of the words that Carroll created, such as "[[wikt:chortle|chortled]]" and "[[wikt:galumphing|galumphing]]", have entered the English language and are listed in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. The word "[[wikt:jabberwocky|jabberwocky]]" itself has come to refer to nonsense language.

In American Sign Language, Eric Malzkuhn invented the sign for "chortled".  It unintentionally caught on and became a part of American Sign Language's lexicon as well.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sorensonvrs.com/ericm |title=Eric Malzkuhn – March 2016 – Sorenson VRS |website=sorensonvrs.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529230953/http://www.sorensonvrs.com/ericm |archive-date=29 May 2019 }}</ref>

==Media==
A song called "Beware the Jabberwock" was written for Disney's 1951 animated film ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' sung by [[Stan Freberg]], but it was discarded, replaced with "'Twas Brillig", sung by the [[Cheshire Cat]], that includes the first stanza of "Jabberwocky".

The [[Alice in Wonderland sculpture]] in [[Central Park]] in [[Manhattan]], New York City, has at its base, among other inscriptions, a line from "Jabberwocky".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/the-16-best-public-art-pieces-in-nyc|title=The 16 Best Public Art Pieces in NYC|date=16 April 2015|website=Gothamist|author=Rebecca Fishbein|access-date=21 August 2020|archive-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420035529/https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/the-16-best-public-art-pieces-in-nyc|url-status=live}}</ref>

The British group [[Boeing Duveen and The Beautiful Soup]] released a single (1968) called "Jabberwock" based on the poem.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/927610-Boeing-Duveen-And-The-Beautiful-Soup|title=Boeing Duveen and the Beautiful Soup|publisher=discogs|access-date=7 March 2016|archive-date=4 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504232141/https://www.discogs.com/artist/927610-Boeing-Duveen-And-The-Beautiful-Soup|url-status=live}}</ref> Singer and songwriter [[Donovan]] put the poem to music on his album ''[[HMS Donovan (album)|HMS Donovan]]'' (1971).

The poem was a source of inspiration for [[Jan Švankmajer]]'s 1971 short film ''Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta'' (released as [[Jabberwocky (1971 film)|''Jabberwocky'']] in English) and [[Terry Gilliam]]'s 1977 feature film ''[[Jabberwocky (film)|Jabberwocky]]''.

In 1972, the American composer [[Sam Pottle]] put the poem to music.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/jabberwocky-sheet-music/7445134|title=Jabberwocky Sam Pottle|work=sheetmusicplus.com|access-date=1 February 2015|archive-date=1 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201221912/http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/jabberwocky-sheet-music/7445134|url-status=live}}</ref> The stage musical [[Jabberwocky (musical)|''Jabberwocky'']] (1973) by Andrew Kay, Malcolm Middleton and Peter Phillips, follows the basic plot of the poem.<ref name="nla">{{cite book|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/211352|title=Catalogue entry|author=National Library of Australia|year=1974|publisher=Printed by the Guild of Undergraduates, University of Western Australia|location=Canberra, ACT|access-date=5 September 2011|archive-date=17 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017082624/http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/211352|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicaustralia.org/apps/MA?function=showDetail&currentBibRecord=000013683564&itemSeq=6&total=13&returnFunction=searchResults&term1=Pantomimes+with+music+Vocal+scores+with+piano.+&location1=Anywhere&scope=scope&parameter1=phrase&boolean1=and&sessionId=reuseSearchF43B22291FDD847390BDEBE11A12AA641303213378404|title=Catalogue entry|author=Music Australia|location=Sydney, NSW|access-date=5 September 2011|archive-date=29 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329074556/http://www.musicaustralia.org/apps/MA?function=showDetail&currentBibRecord=000013683564&itemSeq=6&total=13&returnFunction=searchResults&term1=Pantomimes+with+music+Vocal+scores+with+piano.+&location1=Anywhere&scope=scope&parameter1=phrase&boolean1=and&sessionId=reuseSearchF43B22291FDD847390BDEBE11A12AA641303213378404|url-status=live}}</ref> 
Keyboardists [[Clive Nolan]] and [[Oliver Wakeman]] released a musical version ''[[Jabberwocky (album)|Jabberwocky (1999)]]'' with the poem read in segments by [[Rick Wakeman]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=The Logic of Nonsense: Personal Process towards Oppositionality and Reorganisation as Music Composition |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1950526046 |publisher=University of Western Sydney (Australia) |place=Australia |degree=D.C.A. |language=English |first=Holly |last=Harrison|id={{ProQuest|1950526046}} }}</ref> British contemporary lieder group Fall in Green set the poem to music for a single release (2021) on Cornutopia Music.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/a5105906-6417-49f4-abb1-ed55ca9ab7dc|title = Release group "Jabberwocky" by Fall in Green – MusicBrainz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWMvMrkl4E0| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/PWMvMrkl4E0| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title = Fall in Green – Jabberwocky &#91;Official Video&#93;|website = [[YouTube]]| date=27 January 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 1975, the musical group [[Ambrosia (band)|Ambrosia]] included the text of ''Jabberwocky'' in the lyrics of "Mama Frog" (credited to musicians Puerta, North, Drummond, and Pack) on their debut album ''[[Ambrosia (album)|Ambrosia]]''.<ref>''Ambrosia'' album released by Warner Brothers Records, Inc. "Mama Frog" copyrighted 1974 by Rubicon Music (BMI).</ref>

In 1980 ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' staged a full version of "Jabberwocky" for TV viewing, with the Jabberwock and other creatures played by Muppets closely based on Tenniel's original illustrations. According to Jaques and Giddens, it distinguished itself by stressing the humor and nonsense of the poem.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jaques |first1=Zoe |last2=Giddens |first2=Eugene |title=Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking – Glass: A publishing History |date=6 May 2016 |publisher=Routledge |page=207}}</ref>

In 1981, the Jabberwock was published as a [[monsters in Dungeons & Dragons|monster for Dungeons & Dragons]] in the magazine [[Dragon (magazine)|''Dragon'']].<ref>Craig Stenseth, Ed Greenwood and Roger E. Moore (October 1981). "The Dragon's Bestiary". In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #54 (TSR, Inc.), p. 30.</ref> It was later published in ''[[Monstrous Compendium]]'' in 1996 and in ''[[The Wild Beyond the Witchlight]]'' in 2021.  Additionally, the Vorpal Sword is a magic sword capable of decapitating creatures struck by it in a single blow.<ref>{{cite web | title=Vorpal Sword |url=https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5397-vorpal-sword?srsltid=AfmBOoqfE1cvWxaDXaaui9oQhMpcayxNOSCXmgYU9tQGL_i4NhSOZxox}}</ref> 

The Jabberwock appears in [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (2010), voiced by [[Christopher Lee]], and is referred to as "The Jabberwocky". An abridged version of the poem is spoken by the Mad Hatter (played by [[Johnny Depp]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryan-young/review-tim-burtons-emalic_b_484160.html|title=Review: Tim Burton's ''Alice in Wonderland'' – Bryan Young|work=HuffPost|date=3 May 2010|access-date=29 August 2012|archive-date=19 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219151708/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryan-young/review-tim-burtons-emalic_b_484160.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Films-TV/Blu-ray/Anne-Hathaway/Alice-In-Wonderland-3D/product.html?product=E10365714 ''Alice In Wonderland''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114221359/http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Films-TV/Blu-ray/Anne-Hathaway/Alice-In-Wonderland-3D/product.html?product=E10365714 |date=14 January 2013 }}, profile, Sainsbury's entertainment</ref>

In 2016, the musical group [[Weezer]] included the text of "Jabberwocky" in the lyrics of "L.A. Girlz"<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiPsG7Yjrvk |title=Weezer - L.A. Girlz |date=2016-02-17 |last=WeezerVEVO |access-date=2025-03-29 |via=YouTube}}</ref> which was included on their tenth studio album [[Weezer (White Album)|''Weezer'']].

==See also==
{{Portal|England|Poetry}}
* [[Works based on Alice in Wonderland|Works based on ''Alice in Wonderland'']]
* [[Translations of Through the Looking-Glass|Translations of ''Through the Looking-Glass'']]

==References==

===Footnotes===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
* Carpenter, Humphrey (1985). ''Secret Gardens: The Golden Age of Children's Literature''. Houghton Mifflin. {{ISBN|0-395-35293-2}} Medievil 1998 sony playstation 1

==Further reading==
* Alakay-Gut, Karen. "Carroll's Jabberwocky". ''Explicator'', Fall 1987. Volume 46, issue 1.
* Borchers, Melanie. "A Linguistic Analysis of Lewis Carroll's Poem 'Jabberwocky'". ''The Carrollian: The Lewis Carroll Journal''. Autumn 2009, No. 24, pp.&nbsp;3–46. {{ISSN|1462-6519}}.
* Dolitsky, Marlene (1984). ''Under the tumtum tree: from nonsense to sense, a study in nonautomatic comprehension.  J. Benjamins Pub. Co. Amsterdam, Philadelphia''
* Gardner, Martin (1999). ''The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition''. New York: W .W. Norton and Company.
* Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970). ''The Lewis Carroll Handbook'', "Jabberwocky, and other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London
* {{cite book | first = Douglas R. | last = Hofstadter | year = 1980 | title = Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid | chapter = Translations of Jabberwocky | chapter-url = http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/hofstadter.html | isbn = 0-394-74502-7 | publisher = Vintage Books | location = New York | archive-date = 18 March 2006 | access-date = 1 March 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060318060516/http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/hofstadter.html | url-status = live }}
* Lucas, Peter J. (1997). "Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" in ''Language History and Linguistic Modelling''. {{ISBN|978-3-11-014504-5}}.
* Richards, Fran.  "The Poetic Structure of Jabberwocky".  ''Jabberwocky: The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society''. 8:1 (1978/79):16–19.

==External links==
{{Wikisource}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{librivox book | title=Jabberwocky | author=Lewis Carroll}}
* [http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/hofstadter.html Essay: "Translations of Jabberwocky"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318060516/http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/hofstadter.html |date=18 March 2006 }}. [[Douglas R. Hofstadter]], 1980 from ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach|Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]'' {{ISBN|0-394-74502-7}}, Vintage Books, New York
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/watch/z243d2p BBC Video]  (2 mins), "Jabberwocky" read by English actor [[Brian Blessed]]
* {{youTube|id=XDLac7sAFsI|t=24|Jabberwocky}} read by English author [[Neil Gaiman]]
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=81205 Poetry Foundation Biography of Lewis Carroll]
* [http://thecarrollian.org.uk/ ''The Lewis Carroll Journal'' published by The Lewis Carroll Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323024435/http://thecarrollian.org.uk/ |date=23 March 2010 }}.
* {{YouTube|id=Bnkumgf5qVw|title=Jabberwocky by composer}} [[Sam Pottle]]

{{Alice}}
{{Lewis Carroll}}
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[[Category:Jabberwocky| ]]
[[Category:1871 poems]]
[[Category:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]
[[Category:British poems]]
[[Category:Fictional dragons]]
[[Category:Fictional reptiles]]
[[Category:Gibberish language]]
[[Category:British humorous poems]]
[[Category:Nonce words]]
[[Category:Nonsense poetry]]
[[Category:Poetry by Lewis Carroll]]
[[Category:Fantasy poetry]]