Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll English writer Lewis Carroll (1832- 1898) is best-known for his genre-bending work Alices Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking Glass (1872). The tale of a young girl who visits a strange land is a classic of childrens literature and cemented Carrolls place in the Western literary canon. Even though theyre widely considered to be important works, the talking animals and possible depiction  of what has been interpreted as drug use have placed Wonderland and Looking Glass on numerous lists of banned books. Lewis Carroll Life and Work Lewis Carroll was actually the pen name of   Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a cleric, scholar, teacher, and mathematician. Before turning to writing childrens fiction, Dodgson/Carroll wrote several mathematical texts while a student at Christ Church College, Oxford, including An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, Curiosa Mathematica and Euclid and His Modern Rivals. He met the Liddell family while a teacher at Christ Church College  and was enchanted by their young daughter Alice. Although he later said his fictional heroine was not based on any real person, Carroll reportedly made up the Wonderland stories, or at least their outlines, as a way of entertaining Alice Liddell and her friends. Carroll wrote several other works, some about Alice, in his later years, but never again achieved the commercial success of Wonderland and Looking Glass. Analyzing Carrolls Poem Jabberwocky Jabberwocky is a poem contained within Through the Looking Glass.   Alice discovers the poem in a book on a table during a visit to the Red Queen. From what we can understand, the poem is a mythical monster who is slain by the hero of the poem. Who is the hero? Who is the narrator? Its almost impossible for the reader to tell  since were already in the weird world of Wonderland. Even Alice doesnt understand what shes reading. Written in a ballad style, most of the words within the Jabberwocky are nonsensical, yet it hews to a traditional poetic structure. Here is the complete text of Lewis Carrolls Jabberwocky. 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 shunThe frumious Bandersnatch! He took his vorpal sword in hand:Long time the manxome foe he soughtSo rested he by the Tumtum tree,And stood a while 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 throughThe vorpal blade went snicker-snack!He left it dead, and with its headHe went galumphing back. And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?Come to my arms, my beamish boy!Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!He chortled in his joy. Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe.