Grade 7

JabberwoJabberwockycky

Grade 7

JabberwoJabberwockycky

Ever heard of Alice in Wonderland?

Lewis Carroll’s most famous writings are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass, as well as the poems “The Hunting of the

Snark" and “JabberwockyJabberwocky”.

by Lewis Carroll

Actually, Lewis Carroll was really just the ‘pen name’ used by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

JabberwJabberwockyocky

JabberwockyJabberwocky is a poem

of Nonsense verse that originally appeared in Lewis Carroll’s famous novel Through the Looking Glass.

It is widely known to be the greatest (certainly most well-known and studied)

nonsense poem ever written.

Jabberwocky was written in 1871!

JabberwJabberwockyocky

In the original text, the poem was written sdrawkcab, and Alice came up with the idea of decoding it by holding it up to the "looking-glass."

In the story, Humpty Dumpty explains to her that the poem "Jabberwocky" is made up of portmanteaus or invented words

Ever heard of

Humpty Dumpty?

↑ Literary

Device

◄backwards

How about…

The Mad The Mad

Hatter ?Hatter ?

The Cheshire Cat?

The Cheshire Cat?

JabberwJabberwockyocky

There was a book lying near Alice on the table and while she sat watching the White King (for she was still a little anxious about him, and had the ink all ready to throw over him, in case he fainted again), she turned over the leaves, to find some part that she could read, "--for it's all in some language I don't know", she said to herself.

It was like this.

She puzzled over this for some time, but at last a bright thought struck her. "Why, it's a Looking-glass book, of course! And if I hold it up to a glass, the words will all go the right way again."

This was the poem that Alice read.

The reading…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-AGLyMVHM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OVZKfPik-I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLBjOIVIGqY

Exploring the meaning of

Jabberwocky…

So, what does it all mean?

Thoughts?

What was Alice thinking?

'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'

Humpty Dumpty had some thoughts…

“You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir”, said Alice. “Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem ‘Jabberwocky’?”

“Let’s hear it”, said Humpty Dumpty. “I can explain all the poems that have ever been invented – and a good many that haven’t been invented just yet.”

This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMnrrhbQqrA

Portmanteau

A word formed out of parts of other words.

Two meanings packed into one word (as in the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.)

Examples:

Brunch is formed from breakfast and lunch.

Spork is formed from spoon and fork.

Brangelina is formed from Brad and Angelina.

The word "portmanteau" was first used in this context by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, where "slithy" means "lithe and slimy" and "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable". Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice,'You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.'

Vocabulary or nonsense… or inventive?

Word Meaning?Jubjub fearsome

Bandersnatch Time to broil dinner

vorpal beautiful

manxome Thick, dense, dark

brillig swift moving creature with snapping jaws

slithy deadly, sharp

mimsy a desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion

beamish lithe and slimy

chortled chuckle and snort

tulgey flimsy and miserable

This poem and it’s vocabulary have been studied and analysed ‘to death’. Lewis himself provided a translation of many of the nonsense words into regular English, but himself even admitted to being uncertain about the translation of others.

Here are some generally agreed upon translations…Can you match up the nonsense word with the supposed meaning?

To Do:1. Using you best handwork, copy the poem

Jabberwocky onto a piece of looseleaf.2. Underline (or highlight) the nonsense words.3. Rewrite the poem again (using your best handwork) but

replace the nonsense words with real words that you think would make sensible substitutions.

4. Write your own nonsense piece… (see writing assignment)

..\1 - English Language Arts Grade 7-9\Assignments\Nonsense Poetry -

Jabberwocky.doc