Through the Looking-Glass, Jabberwocky and Alice's Vorpal Sword

  "Jabberwocky"

'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 awhile 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!
O 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.
 
    We are all familiar with Alice and her adventures, but who can really read her, who cares, who has the time right? but it is a classic for a reason, praised, renown, acclaimed, you name it, is it for the story?, so novel, so quaint, or is it for the style of the writer? We all know her story so I will argue the style of the writer part. One can read through this telling quite easily but when it comes to the poem parts, you will certainly not understand it at first and a little bit of deciphering would be in order, but this is not a tiresome endeavor at all, but a quest that could lead you even deeper into Wonderland and the words he once invented are now widely used in the English world. Thus I want to point out and talk about the 'Jabberwocky' which is a nonsense poem about the killing of a creature, the Jabberwock.
     As a nonsense poem then it is a journey to a very theoretical and subjective world, where a balancing act takes place between elements that make sense with some that do not. Do not read further is you feel a pressing need that things must make sense right away, I repeat LEAVE NOW, pass forward, move on if you do not enjoy nonsense and do not feel that you may find greater sense in it. Well! to help along, the elements that make sense speak of a hero, that slays or kills this monster the Jabbekrwock with a sword.
    Words have intrinsic power, and Lewis Carrol, takes them to a whole new level by combining many of them into one. These then become full of strength, beauty and are sometimes up to threefold in meaning, sometimes, very whimsical, sometimes nonsensical. Furthermore, sonority, there is a reverberation and resonance throughout the poem that you may not even know how to pronounce these words, and you might be right, that is why you should listen to them as well.
     As a play needs to be acted out, a poem must be declaimed. Two Sirs stand out at this and bestow great justice to this already epic poem, one of them is Sir Christopher Lee, the evil white wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, a quintessential villain, for this other villainous creature that is the Jabberwock, and two, Sir Ian Mckellan, another Mithrandir, Gandalf the grey himself.
     Perhaps the fact that these two great actors, protagonists in maybe one of the most complex fantasy novels of our time, are related to this poem is not a coincidence, the genre of fantasy novels is said to have begun with Lewis Carrol and his world of Wonderland.
     To finalize, some making sense of symbols here, a mythological approach if you will, remember the saying ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ and from this poem ‘He took his vorpal sword in hand’. Well! the word vorpal is a made up word, as most of the words in this poem! and a combination of two real words, verbal and gospel. And from the gospel of Saint John we have ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ therefore, as the gospel defeats evil, the writer wielding his weapon defeats this terrible monster, elocution of nightmares and fears, not with a physical blade but with the verb. What a fair, fabulous and joyous thing, or "frabjous" as Lewis would put it, that is the power of writing.
    So I invite you also to do justice to this poem, listen to the declamation, read the words and then explore its hidden meaning, for if you stay shallow on this one, it will never reveal to you! At the end is an attempt of making sense of some of the words and lines of this poem, not by all means all of it, nor the correct one, completely against the rule of the land, that is, you should by your own volition look up and experience what it could mean for you, but there it is nonetheless.



Christopher Lee  --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVoBra0I4jU
Ian Mckellan     --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJN-NfKtBoo

Jabberwocky

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

it was a broiling afternoon and slimy and lithe the badgers like corkscrews

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

did a spiral form vortex and made holes like a gimble in a grass-plot round a sun-dial

All mimsy were the borogoves,

all flimsy and miserable were the thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, something like a live mop who made their nests under sun-dials and lived on veal

And the mome raths outgrabe.

and the green pigs badgers were bellowing and whistling

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

verbal and gospel

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

long time manxome foe and devourer of unnameable fluids

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

so rested he the hero will turn out to be the Sun-god in one of his _Avatars_; and the Tumtum tree the great Ash _Ygdrasil_ of the Scandinavian mythology.

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood

I stood in uffish thought too long and now the Emperor is dead

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

Came whiffling through the thick, dense, dark wood,

And burbled as it came!

and bleat, murmer and warble as it came! -The characteristic cry of a goat or sheep-the Surge which oer the idle pebbles chafes cannot be heard so high' [2] but this is one of Old Willy's long stretches, for the murmer of the waves is distinctly heard, though the depth is dreadfuly and sublimly terrible-

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.

a blend of gallop and triumphant

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

fair, fabulous, and joyous

He chortled in his joy.

he chuckle and snort in his joy