Interesting facts about the classic nonsense poem, ‘Jabberwocky’
1. The poem ‘Jabberwocky’ gave us a number of new words which are now in pretty common use. The most famous of these is ‘chortle’, a kind of laugh that is a blend of a ‘chuckle’ and a ‘snort’. But the poem – which was written, of course, by the fascinating Lewis Carroll – also gave us the word ‘galumph’ (to walk clumsily and noisily) and ‘slithy’, in the sense of ‘lithe and slimy’. ‘Jabberwocky’ may also have influenced our modern use of the word ‘mimsy’, though this remains difficult to determine (‘mimsy’ already existed with a similar meaning, though Carroll’s poem probably helped to popularise it). We’ve analysed the language of ‘Jabberwocky’ here.
2. Humpty Dumpty, who explains the poem to Alice, also invented another word. The term ‘portmanteau word’ is now used by linguists to describe words such as ‘chortle’ and ‘slithy’ which combine, or blend, the sounds and meanings of two existing words. (Other famous examples include ‘brunch’, from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’, and, more recently, ‘chillax’, from ‘chill’ and ‘relax’.) In Carroll’s novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Humpty Dumpty tells a bemused Alice: ‘You see it’s like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed up into one word.’ A portmanteau is a sort of case or bag which opens out flat into two halves – so Humpty’s use of the term (we hope he won’t mind us assuming first-name terms with 
him, but if he does – well, he’s an egg, for goodness’ sake) is a sort of metaphorical representation of the two halves of a ‘portmanteau’ word, whose meanings and sounds are then packed up into one unit (e.g. brunch). ‘Portmanteau’, by the way, literally means ‘cloak-carrier’, since the bag was used to carry clothes around.
3. It’s ‘Jabberwocky’, not ‘the Jabberwocky’. The title of the poem doesn’t contain the definite article, though that hasn’t stopped many people referring to ‘the Jabberwocky’. But this is incorrect: the creature or monster that features in the poem is ‘the Jabberwock’, and the poem’s title, therefore, is an adjective used to describe the monster: the monster, and the poem, is about Jabberwocks, therefore it’s ‘Jabberwocky’. It would be like referring to a poem about cats as ‘the catty’. Good. Now we’ve cleared that up…
4. The poem’s author, Lewis Carroll, actually drafted the opening of ‘Jabberwocky’ long before he wrote the first Alice book. Carroll – then known by his real name Charles Dodgson – wrote the first stanza of the poem over ten years before the first of the two Alice books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was published. He printed it in 1855 in the little periodical Mischmasch which he compiled to entertain his family. It read: ‘Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves / Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe: / All mimsy were ye borogoves; / And ye mome raths outgrabe.’ The style was meant to be a pastiche of Anglo-Saxon poetry, and indeed the poem shares much with Beowulf in terms of the ‘monster’ versus ‘hero’ motif.
5. There is a computer program inspired, and named after, ‘Jabberwocky’. The poet and new media artist Neil Hennessy created JABBER: The Jabberwocky Engine, a Java program which can generate neologisms, or new coinages, much in the manner of Carroll’s poem. Random letters are programmed to group together into probable English words. It’s an intriguing idea, though perhaps nonsense poets will be rendered obsolete by the program? We hope not – and we doubt it.
Enjoyed these Jabberwocky facts? More Lewis Carroll facts here – and you might also like our short history of English poetry, told through 8 short poems.
Image: Illustration for ‘Jabberwocky’ by John Tenniel, 1871; Wikimedia Commons.
I learned a lot from this post. Now, I feel jabberwocky and grateful.
Wasn’t this poem also incomplete? I seem to remember that he’d dreamt it and someone walked in and the ending was lost… Could be another poem.
That happened with Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’ (about which we’ve written here: http://interestingliterature.com/2013/04/03/surprising-facts-about-samuel-taylor-coleridge/) – or at least, Coleridge claimed it happened!
Ohhhh yeah, that was the one.
Excellent post. Informative and fun. What a man – Lewis Carroll – whose one poem gave the language new words!
Wonderful post! I always look forward to reading your fascinating facts!
Thanks for sharing! I love learning stuff like this. Super interesting.
Apparently there were some nerves about Tenniel’s original drawing, because people felt it might be too scary for Victorian children. Thankfully, the editor’s vorpal blade did not cut it in two so it made the final cut, and is one of the most iconic images from the book.
Great facts, I was particularly interested to read about the pastiche origins. I have always thought there were echoes of Beowulf. Nonsense poetry should be celebrated more often https://profusionofeccentricities.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/the-runcible-spoon/
Reblogged this on pattytmitchell and commented:
I know, I know … two Interesting Literatures in one week. But what can I say? This blog is so much better than mine! True Fact.
So beware the Jabberwok and those jaws that bite and claws the clutch.
And if you’re looking to recite, hereyago
‘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 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 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!
Oh 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.
This is great! I’ve got a fair few friends that will enjoy reading this as well! Thanks for sharing!
Reblogged this on The Masked Pimpernel and commented:
‘Twas indeed brillig!
Great post. A lot of new and interesting information!
Great blog. I used to love reciting poetry. My sister and I had a double act and we used Lewis Carroll, AA Milne and Reginald Arkell as party pieces when we were on HF holidays.
I don’t remember many of the verses but the first verse of Jabberwocky has stayed with me for over fifty years. Julie.
Reblogged this on Jude's Threshold and commented:
fantastic! ‘Lewis Carroll’ is a fascinating fellow