" Jabberwocky" is a Nonsense verse 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 back-to-front world of the Looking-Glass world.
In an early scene in which she first encounters the chess piece characters White King and 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.
"Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English.
Origin and publication
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:
The stanza is printed first in faux-mediaeval lettering as a "relic of ancient Poetry" (in which þe is a form of the word the) and printed again "in modern characters".[ A Town Like Alice's (1997) Michael Bute Heritage Publications, Sunderland][ Alice in Sunderland (2007) Brian Talbot Dark Horse publications.] and the tale of the Sockburn Worm.
The concept of nonsense verse was not original to Carroll, who would have known of chapbooks such as The World Turned Upside Down[Carpenter (1985), 55–56] Biographer Roger Lancelyn Green suggested that "Jabberwocky" was a parody of the German ballad "The Shepherd of the Giant Mountains",["Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" by Lucas, Peter J. in Language History and Linguistic Modelling (1997) p503-520 ][Hudson, Derek (1977) Lewis Carroll: an illustrated biography. Crown Publishers, 76][Martin Gardner (2000) The Annotated Alice. New York: Norton p 154, n. 42.] 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 / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets" from Act I, Scene i.[Carroll makes later reference to the same lines from Hamlet Act I, Scene i in the 1869 poem "Phantasmagoria". He wrote: "Shakspeare I think it is who treats / Of Ghosts, in days of old, / Who 'gibbered in the Roman streets".]
John Tenniel reluctantly agreed to illustrate the book in 1871,[Prickett, Stephen (2005) Victorian Fantasy Baylor University Press p80 ]
Lexicon
Many of the words in the poem are playful
of Carroll's own invention, without intended explicit meaning. When Alice has finished reading the poem she gives her impressions:
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.
In Through the Looking-Glass, the character of 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".
In 1868 Carroll asked his 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.
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'."[Carroll, Lewis (2005) Through the Looking Glass. Hayes Barton Press p. 4]
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."
Possible interpretations of words
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Bandersnatch: A swift moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its neck.
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: Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful. Although Carroll may have believed he had coined this word, usage in 1530 is cited in the Oxford English Dictionary.
[ References the Oxford English Dictionary (1530).]
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: 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."
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: 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."
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: 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.
[Lewis Carroll, Letter to Maud Standen, December 1877]
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: "Combination of 'chuckle' and 'snort'." (OED)
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: Possibly a blend of "fair", "fabulous", and "joyous". Definition from Oxford English Dictionary, credited to Lewis Carroll.
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: Combination of "fuming" and "furious". In the Preface to The Hunting of the Snark Carroll comments, "Take 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'."
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: Perhaps used in the poem as a blend of "gallop" and "triumphant".
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Gimble: Humpty Dumpty comments that it means: "to make holes like a gimlet."
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: "To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope."
[From the preface to Through the Looking-Glass.]
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: 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'..."
[ Carroll, Lewis (Author), Tenniel, John (2003). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, pp. 328–331. Penguin Classics. ] 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 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.
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Jubjub bird: "A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion", according to the Butcher in Carroll's later poem The Hunting of the Snark.
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: 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.
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: Humpty Dumpty comments that Mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable.
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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').
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Outgrabe: Humpty Dumpty says outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle".
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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."
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: 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."
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: possibly related to the large knife, the .
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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."
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: 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 tewolgow 'darkness, gloominess'.
[George, Ken. An Gerlyver Meur, Cornish-English, English-Cornish Dictionary. Cornish Language Board, 2009. Part One, Cornish-English, p. 624.]
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: Carroll noted, "It seemed to suggest a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish".
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: 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".
[ Collins definition]
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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".
Linguistics and poetics
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 iambic meter.
[Gross and McDowell (1996). Sound and form in modern poetry, p. 15. The University of Michigan Press. ] 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.
[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. ]
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 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.
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".[Parsons, Marnie (1994) Touch monkeys: nonsense strategies for reading twentieth-century poetry, pp. 67–73. University of Toronto Press. ]
Translations
History
"Jabberwocky" has been translated into 65 languages.
[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. .] 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 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)? ".
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, partly global, partly local, between the brains of all the readers".
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.[M. Gardner, ed., The Annotated Alice, 1960; London: Penguin 1970, p. 193f.] Chao Yuen Ren, a Chinese linguist, translated the poem into Chinese[Rob Gifford. "The Great Wall of the Mind." China Road. Random House. 2008. 237.] Satyajit Ray, a film-maker, translated the work into Bengali language[Robinson, Andrew (2004) Satyajit Ray. I.B. Tauris p29] and concrete poet Augusto de Campos created a Brazilian Portuguese version. There is also an Arabic translation[Wael Al-Mahdi (2010) Jabberwocky in Arabic][M. L. West, "Two Versions of Jabberwocky", Greece & Rome Vol. 11 No. 2, October 1964, pp. 185–187.]
Sample translations
Sources:
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Bulgarian
(Lazar Goldman & Stefan Gechev) | Danish 1
(Mogens Jermiin Nissen)
Jabberwocky | Danish 2
(Arne Herløv Petersen)
Kloppervok |
- Бе сгладне и честлинните комбурси
- търляха се и сврецваха във плите;
- съвсем окласни бяха тук щурпите
- и отма равапсатваха прасурси.
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- Et slidigt gravben vridrede
- i brumringen på tidvis plent,
- og lappingen var vaklig, og
- det borte grøfgrin grent.
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- I glummert lys den slyge spæg
- stod gomrende og glim.
- I børkens dyb stod mamren fjæg
- og bungrede i skim.
|
Esperanto
(Marjorie Boulton)
La Ĵargonbesto | Turkish
(Nihal Yeğinobalı)
Ejdercenkname | Finnish 1
(Kirsi Kunnas & Eeva-Liisa Manner, 1974)
Pekoraali |
- Brilumis, kaj la ŝlirtaj melfoj
- en la iejo ĝiris, ŝraŭis;
- mizaris la maldikdudelfoj,
- forfuraj ratjoj vaŭis.
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- akşamözdü, yavışkan burguleler
- döndeleyip cermelerken günsatba
- uyudüşmüş kalmışlardı karpüsler
- yemizler derseniz ak-ök begirba
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- On illanpaisto, ja silkavat saijat
- luopoissa pirkeinä myörien ponkii:
- surheisna kaikk' kirjuvat lorokaijat
- ja vossut lonkaloisistansa ulos vonkii.
|
Finnish 2
(Matti Rosvall, 1999)
Jabberwocky[This rendering comes from Rosvall's Finnish language translation of Fredric Brown's novel Night of the Jabberwock ( Syntipukin yö).] | Finnish 3
(Alice Martin, 2010)
Monkerias | French
(Frank L. Warrin) |
- Kyryissä mäiden myryt parvat
- ripoen kormivat pällyissään.
- Vilhujen borogrovien karvat
- talsoivat – ne niin sällyissään.
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- Jo koitti kuumon aika, ja viukkaat puhvenet
- päinillä harpitellen kieruloivat,
- haipeloina seisoksivat varakuhvenet,
- ja öksyt muvut kaikki hinkuroivat.
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- Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux
- Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave.
- Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux
- Et le mômerade horsgrave.
|
Georgian
(Giorgi Gokieli)
ტარტალოკი | German
(Robert Scott) | Hebrew 1
(Aharon Amir)
|
- მიმწუხარშდა. მოქნიალა სლუკები
- ზილობდნენ და ძვრიალებდნენ მარეხვში;
- საბუდავად ცხოვდნენ ბარდალუკები,
- ვით ფშუნები სურდაბილის გარეშე.
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- Es brillig war. Die schlichten Toven
- Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
- Und aller-mümsige Burggoven
- Die mohmen Räth' ausgraben.
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- ,
- ,
- ,
- .
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Hebrew 2
(Rina Litvin)
| Icelandic
(Valdimar Briem)
Rausuvokkskviða | Irish
(Nicholas Williams)
An Gheabairleog |
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- Það leið að stekju, og slýgir greðlar
- sig snældu og böluðu um slöffruna,
- og angurvært sungu sópfiðrungar
- við sífgelt týðmana svíræna.
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- 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.
|
Italian
(Adriana Crespi)
Il ciarlestrone | Latin
(Hassard H. Dodgson)
Gaberbocchus | Polish
(Janusz Korwin-Mikke)
Żabrołak |
- Era brillosto, e gli alacridi tossi
- succhiellavano scabbi nel pantúle:
- Méstili eran tutti i paparossi,
- e strombavan musando i tartarocchi.
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- Hora aderat briligi. Nunc et Slythia Tova
- Plurima gyrabant gymbolitare vabo;
- Et Borogovorum mimzebant undique formae,
- Momiferique omnes exgrabuere Rathi.
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- Błyszniało – szlisgich hopuch świr
- Tęczując w kałdach świtrzem wre,
- Mizgłupny był borolągw hyr,
- Chrząszczury wlizły młe.
|
Portuguese 1
(Augusto de Campos, 1980)
Jaguadarte | Portuguese 2
(Oliveira Ribeiro Neto, 1984)
Algaravia | Portuguese 3
(Ricardo Gouveia)
Blablassauro |
- Era briluz. As lesmolisas touvas
- Roldavam e reviam nos gramilvos.
- Estavam mimsicais as pintalouvas,
- E os momirratos davam grilvos.
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- Era o auge e as rolas brilhantes
- Pelo ar giravam, giravam.
- Palhaços davam pinotes,
- Os montes se amontoava.
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- Brilumia e colescosos touvos
- No capimtanal se giroscavam;
- Miquíticos eram os burrogouvos,
- E os mamirathos extrapitavam.
|
Russian
(Dina Orlovskaya) | Spanish 1
(Ulalume González de León)
El Jabberwocky | Spanish 2
(Adolfo de Alba)
El Jabberwocky |
- Варкалось. Хливкие шорьки
- Пырялись по наве,
- И хрюкотали зелюки,
- Как мюмзики в мове.
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- Era la parrillhora y los flexiosos tovos
- en el cesplejos giroscopiaban, vibrhoradaban.
- Frivoserables estaban los borogovos
- y los verchinos telehogariados relinchiflaban.
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- Era la asarvesperia y los flexilimosos toves
- giroscopiaban taledrando en el vade;
- debilmiseros estaban los borogoves;
- bramatchisilban los verdilechos parde.
|
Spanish 3
(Ramón Buckley, 1984)
El Fablistanón | Welsh
(Selyf Roberts)
Siaberwoci | American Sign Language (ASL)
(Eric Malzkuhn, 1939) |
- Borgotaba. Los viscoleantes toves
- rijando en la solea, tadralaban...
- Misébiles estaban los borgoves
- y algo momios los verdos bratchilbaban
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- 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, view video to see translation of Jabberwocky. (Performed in 1994)
See this link for explanation of techniques used by Eric Malzkuhn
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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.
[Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970) The Lewis Carroll Handbook, "Jabberwocky, and other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London] 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, came to sign the
Thirty-Nine Articles, as an Anglican statement of faith, to save his job.
[Prickett, Stephen (2005) Victorian Fantasy Baylor University Press p113 ] 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."
[Chesterton, G. K (1953) "Lewis Carroll" in A Handful of Authors, ed. Dorothy Collins, Sheed and Ward, London]
It is often now cited as one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English,[Jacobs, Frank (1968) Mad, for better or verse N.A.L] 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
Some of the words that Carroll created, such as "" and "", have entered the English language and are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. The word "" 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.
Media
A song called "Beware the Jabberwock" was written for Disney's 1951 animated 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".
The British group Boeing Duveen and The Beautiful Soup released a single (1968) called "Jabberwock" based on the poem.
The poem was a source of inspiration for Jan Švankmajer's 1971 short film Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta (released as Jabberwocky in English) and Terry Gilliam's 1977 feature film Jabberwocky.
In 1972, the American composer Sam Pottle put the poem to music.
In 1978, the musical group Ambrosia included the text of Jabberwocky in the lyrics of "Moma Frog" (credited to musicians Puerta, North, Drummond, and Pack) on their debut album Ambrosia.[ Ambrosia album released by Warner Brothers Records, Inc. "Moma Frog" copyrighted 1974 by Rubicon Music (BMI).]
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.
In 1981, the Jabberwock was published as a monster for Dungeons & Dragons in the magazine Dragon.[Craig Stenseth, Ed Greenwood and Roger E. Moore (October 1981). “The Dragon's Bestiary”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #54 (TSR, Inc.), p. 30.] 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.
The Jabberwock appears in Tim Burton's 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).[ Alice In Wonderland , profile, Sainsbury's entertainment]
In 2016, the musical group Weezer included the text of "Jabberwocky" in the lyrics of "L.A. Girlz"
See also
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Works based on Alice in Wonderland
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Translations of Through the Looking-Glass
Footnotes
Sources
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Carpenter, Humphrey (1985). Secret Gardens: The Golden Age of Children's Literature. Houghton Mifflin. Medievil 1998 sony playstation 1
Further reading
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Alakay-Gut, Karen. "Carroll's Jabberwocky". Explicator, Fall 1987. Volume 46, issue 1.
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Borchers, Melanie. "A Linguistic Analysis of Lewis Carroll's Poem 'Jabberwocky'". The Carrollian: The Lewis Carroll Journal. Autumn 2009, No. 24, pp. 3–46. .
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Dolitsky, Marlene (1984). Under the tumtum tree: from nonsense to sense, a study in nonautomatic comprehension. J. Benjamins Pub. Co. Amsterdam, Philadelphia
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Gardner, Martin (1999). The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. New York: W .W. Norton and Company.
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Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970). The Lewis Carroll Handbook, "Jabberwocky, and other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London
-
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Lucas, Peter J. (1997). "Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" in Language History and Linguistic Modelling. .
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Richards, Fran. "The Poetic Structure of Jabberwocky". Jabberwocky: The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society. 8:1 (1978/79):16–19.
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