Hunter West In Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll utilizes the structure of a ballad alongside the portmanteau language, such as “slithe,” throughout the poem to convey the theme of man versus nature. Symbolism also plays a major role in the poem as the young son, representing innocence and youth, overcomes and beheads the symbolic Jabberwock, representing a violent force of nature. Carroll’s fun, child-like poem captures all ages as his work provides an underlying theme that even captures the attention of older readers. By facing demons and overcoming them with a ‘vorpal blade,’ Carroll uses courage and humor to overcome even the most difficult of foes. The readers are taken along the ride of invented words and alliteration as the protagonist victoriously …show more content…
The poem begins and closes with the same stanza, similar to the chorus of a ballad. This stanza consists of portmanteau language that works as imagery to describe the peculiar ‘toves,’ ‘borogroves,’ and ‘raths.’ It also introduces the nature aspect of the poem that plays into the central theme. In the next stanza, the protagonist is warned about the ‘Jabberwock’, ‘Jubjub bird,’ and ‘Bandersnatch,’ and the alliterative ‘claws that catch.’ All of these names for the beasts relay an image of jabbing and snatching in the reader’s mind that makes nature appear evil and vicious, also contributing to the idea of man versus nature. The next stanza uses internal rhyme in line eleven, “So rested he by the Tumtum tree,” reflecting the lackadaisical attitude of the young boy. However, the fourth stanza immediately becomes action packed as the infamous Jabberwock makes its appearance. Its ‘eyes of flame’ emphasize the evil connotation given to nature in the poem. The repetition of line seventeen, ‘One, two One two And through and through,’ adds to the quick pace of the next stanza. The boy uses his weapon to kill off the beast as Carroll uses the onomatopoeia ‘snicker-snack’ to describe the swift sound of the
She admits that a “lapsed pacifist” such as herself can be filled with “Darwinian pieties” to murder, specifically referencing the woodchucks destroying the landscape. Though the narrator may seem to simply realize her obsession with killing the woodchucks, her overall connotation leads readers to consider the possibility of a preoccupation to execute humans as well. This theme continues throughout the remaining stanzas in the poem, as the speaker utilizes phrases such as “the murderer inside me” and “if only they’d consented to die unseen.” These lines insinuate that the speaker represents one who murders people rather than a hunter of rodents. The use of violent, personified vocabulary throughout the entire poem also signifies the speaker’s focus on human violence. The strand of harsh and sometimes humanized words such as “beheading,” “gassing,” “nipping,” “killing,” and “bullets” inflict a negative connotation for the narrator’s actions. These words are not always used when referring to the woodchucks; the “beheading” refers to a patch of carrots, which signifies that this violent connotation is intentional. If the speaker simply aims to reflect an innocent woodchuck hunt, she should not use such violent or personal vocabulary. Therefore, the incorporation of this strand of words along with the narrator’s description of her own actions signifies the overall personification of the rodents in the speaker’s
Tone- Jabberwocky appears to have a somewhat humorous tone, considering the nonsensical words used, the brevity of the story, and lack of moral. There is no issue or theme addressed that can be applied as an allegory, unlike The Lorax. However, the entire story of the Lorax is rather darker and more applicable in real life, and the tone is both a call to action for the readers and also rather accusatory towards large factories and companies. However, the Jabberwocky appears to have no clear accusations or calls to action and is a vivid contrast to the dark tone of The Lorax. The Jabberwocky poem’s tone is rather ironic, because it presents a usually serious topic (Defeating a vicious beast) with nonsensical baby words, which makes the author’s intent rather humorous. The quote below showcases an action scene with these nonsense words, which changes the tone from serious too rather humorous.
The third stanza describes the snake as “cool and gleaming as a braided whip” (9-10). Describing the snake as a braided whip demonstrates the intricate woven pattern of the snake’s scales and the poet’s appreciation for nature and its’ beauty. The snake is not a useless piece of rubber, but a beautiful and vibrant part of nature. “He is as beautiful and quiet as a bead brother” (10-11). The snake is quiet, makes no sound, and snuggles into
Repeated onomatopoeic terms again set the scene. We are told that a hunt is in progress, and it is described in descriptive detail. Anderson does not romanticise the scene as the duckling cowers from a ‘fearfully big dog’.
In stanza four the poet is flashing back to his childhood and telling us some other words that he got in trouble for. “Other words that got me into trouble were fight and fright, wren and yarn.” (29-31) Even though he got in trouble by his teacher for not knowing the words, his mother helped him understand them in a different way. “Wren are small, plain birds.” (34) “My mother made birds out of yarn.” (37) Here he is shown how two different things can become the same thing.
The last stanza in the poem is a repeat of the first stanza. However, the end conveys happiness because the need for fear is gone, whereas the first stanza sets the story for the father to tell his son about the fearful Jabberwock. For the reason that Jabberwock is a nonsense poem, that uses nonsense words, I believe the poem is talking about the unknown. Symbolizing that the unknown needs to be feared as the Jabberwock, which represents the unknown, is feared by the father. The Jabberwock is feared throughout the poem, until elimination of the Jabberwock, and the
Of Borogroves and Slithy Toves When you hear the word 'Jabberwocky' what do you think? I think of how twisted and immense Lewis Carol's depiction of Wonderland really is. People interpret "The Jabberwocky" in many different ways. Honestly, I have my own multitude of interpretations for "The Jabberwocky". I believe there are three themes that make this poem what it is.
The reader can relate to the moth, with both being “awake” and “afraid of the night”, allowing the reader to further empathise. The poet may be trying to shine a spotlight on humans’ generic hate on things without knowing their opinions, backstory or justifications. In this poem, the moth is driven to a very dark place, the repetition of “I” in the second stanza shows all the negative actions or labels on it. In weasels, the poet may be trying to highlight how what humans may see as gruesome or disgusting, is a way of life and a way of survival for a species. The only way a weasel lives is by eating these “dead fish” and living in “rotted tree-stump”, the food and places ignored by others.
In his poem “Jabberwocky”, Lewis Carroll tells the tale of a boy warned by his father of the dangerous creatures that lurk outside, where then the boy goes out and slays one of the most dangerous, therefore receiving praise and gratitude from his father. Carroll utilizes sound in the form of made-up words, rhyme, and tone to create a fanciful atmosphere that exploits our fear and curiosity to develop a theme of good versus evil. In this context, “man” is seen as “good” while “beast” is viewed as evil.
This is the first stanza of "jabberwocky" by Lewis Carol. He was born on 1832 and died in 1898 in England. This poem was not originally a alone poem, this was a part of the book "Through the Looking Glass". Also critics were asking if this was a parody and found that it is an parody of "The Shepard and the Giant Mountians" because the story of that poem is a Shepard boy kills mythical griffin. Critcs say that Lewis Carol might have had that poem in his head while writing Jabberwocky. This was written in 1871, the Victorian times, and would be classified as a ballad stanza and a nonsense poem. It is about
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll is a senseless poem with a multitude of fantasy imagery. I felt that the main theme of the poem is heroism, which is displayed through the repetition of meaningless words and the use of literacy devices in the poem such as alliteration, imagery, metaphor, internal rhyme, consonance, cacophony and portmanteau. Carroll bring the reader along for the ride of a young boy’s quest to kill a beast, called the Jabberwocky, and after the battle returns home to be honored. Throughout the poem, Carroll’s use of cacophony which is a harsh mixture of sounds causes the reader to experience the feeling of suspense. This allows for the boy to appear excessively heroic when he slayed the Jabberwocky.
The alliteration used by Teasdale, found throughout the terse poem, serve as a way to display the theme. “Whistling their whims” (6) refers to the robins, still inhabiting the world, and is one of Teasdale's first use of alliteration in the poem. Even though society has ceased, the sounds of nature will not shift into something else. In stanza four, Teasdale wrote these two words which are a prime example of the alliteration’s effect: “mind” (9) and “mankind” (10). These two words show the reader that if a war took all the life from mankind, nothing would mind or even know.
It is “difficult to understand the meaning of [“Jabberwocky”]” (Dean 1). In comparison to the relatively simple poetry found in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “Jabberwocky” is certainly far more advanced. The invented words and the puzzling vocabulary pose a challenge to many readers, especially the younger ones. The main reasons that the poem can even be understood, on some level, is his placement of the words within the sentences. Additionally, the words appear to be real and sounds are used to express the meaning of the words. Other than those techniques, “Jabberwocky” would be entirely nonsensical to a majority of the readers. This pattern of difficult to understand poetry is diffused throughout Through the Looking Glass, as most of
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll was written with the intention of highlighting how the story asold as Man itself, which is Man vs. Nature. Humans tend to be scared or at least wary of what they do not know. Carroll's use of made up words help further his point that humans fear the unknown.The first and last paragraphs in particular show that even when parts of nature are not known to be evil, humans still look on those parts with caution out of fear of the unknown. The “slithy toves” and“borogroves” mentioned in the first paragraph are made up creatures. Made up intentionally with the purpose of being unknown to highlight human's caution toward the unknown in nature. Then of course, there is the jubjub bird and the frumious bandersnatch that
As “Snake” begins we are introduced to the speaker encountering this element of the wild, the snake. Early in the poem, the language utilizes the use of sound devices that not only immerse the reader in the scenario, but also the speaker at the level of the snake. Lines 4-13 simulate a snake’s hiss by employing words beginning with “S,” such as “strange-scented shade” (4), “steps” (5), “slackness soft” (9), “stone” (8-9), and “He sipped with his straight mouth/ Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body/ Silently” (11-13). This poetic device is used later in the poem, however it not only simulates the hiss, but also the slither, “And slowly