JabberwockyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Jabberwocky (disambiguation).

The Jabberwock, as illustrated by John Tenniel

"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novelThrough the Looking-

Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The book tells of Alice's

adventures within the back-to-front world of a looking glass.

In a scene in which she is in conversation with the chess pieces White King andWhite Queen, Alice finds a

book written in a seemingly unintelligible language. Realising that she is travelling through an inverted world,

she recognises that the verse 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 walked into, later revealed as a dreamscape.[1]

"Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English.[2][3] Its playful, whimsical

language has given us nonsense words andneologisms such as "galumphing" and "chortle".

Contents

  [hide] 

1   Origin and publication

2   Lexicon

o 2.1   Possible interpretations of words

3   Linguistics and poetics

4   Translations

5   Reception

6   See also

7   References

8   Sources

9   Further reading

10   External links

[edit]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, close to

nearby Darlington, where he lived as a child, and printed it in 1855 in Mischmasch, a periodical he wrote and

illustrated for the amusement of his family. The piece was titled "Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry" and 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 rest of the poem was written during Lewis Carroll's stay with relatives at Whitburn,

near Sunderland. The story may have been partly inspired by the local Sunderland area

legend of the Lambton Worm.[4][5]

The concept of nonsense verse was not new to Carroll who would have known

of chapbooks such as The World Turned Upside Downand stories such as "The Great

Panjundrum". Nonsense existed in Shakespeare's work and was well-known in the brothers

Grimm's fairytales, some of which are called lying tales or lügenmarchen.[6] Roger Lancelyn

Green suggests that "Jabberwocky" is a parody of the old German ballad "The Shepherd of

the Giant Mountains" in which a shepherd kills a griffin that is attacking his sheep.[7][8] The

ballad had been translated into English in blank verse by Lewis Carroll's cousin Menella Bute

Smedley in 1846, many years before the appearance of the Alice books.[9][8] Historian Sean

B. Palmer suggests that Carroll was inspired by a section from Shakespeare'sHamlet, citing

the lines: "The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead/Did squeak and gibber in the

Roman streets" from Act I, Scene i.[10][11]

John Tenniel reluctantly agreed to illustrate the book in 1871[12], and his illustrations are still

the defining images of the poem. The illustration of the Jabberwock may reflect the

contemporary Victorian obsession with natural history and the fast-evolving sciences

ofpalaeontology and geology. Stephen Prickett notes that in the context

of Darwin and Mantell's publications and vast exhibitions of dinosaurs, such as those at the

Crystal Palace from 1845, it is unsurprising that Tenniel gave the Jabberwock "the leathery

wings of apterodactyl and the long scaly neck and tail of a sauropod."[12]

[edit]Lexicon

"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.

“”

from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There(1872).

Many of the words in the poem are playful nonce words of Carroll's own invention, without

intended explicit meaning. When Alice has finished reading the poem she gives her

impressions:

'It seems very pretty,' she said when she had finished it, 'but it's rather hard to understand!'

(You see she didn't like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.)

'Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are!

However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate'[1]

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.[13] 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; however, Carroll's personal commentary

on several of the words differ from Humpty's. For example, following the poem, a "rath" is

described by Humpty as "a sort of green pig".[14] Carroll's notes for the original

in Mischmasch suggest a "rath" is "a species of Badger" that "lived chiefly on cheese" and

had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag.[15] The appendices to

certain Looking Glasseditions, however, state that the creature is "a species of land turtle"

that lived on swallows and oysters.[15] Later critics added their own interpretations of the

lexicon, often without reference to Carroll's own contextual commentary. An extended

analysis of the poem and Carroll's commentary is given in the book The Annotated

Alice by Martin Gardner.

In January 1868, Carroll wrote to his publisher Macmillan, asking, "Have you any means, or

can you find any, for printing a page or two of the next volume of Alice in reverse?" This may

suggest that Carroll was wanting to print the whole poem in mirror writing. Macmillian

responded that it would cost a great deal more to do, and this may have dissuaded him.[15]

"Jabberwocky" (UK English)

Problems listening to this file? See media help.

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.'"[16] 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."[17]

[edit]Possible interpretations of words

Bandersnatch: A swift moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its

neck.[17] A 'bander' was also an archaic word for a 'leader', suggesting that a

'bandersnatch' might be an animal that hunts the leader of a group.[15]

Beamish: Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful. Although Carroll may have believed he

had coined this word, it is cited in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1530.[18]

Borogove: 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

explanatory book notes Carroll describes it further as "an extinct kind of Parrot. They

had no wings, beaks turned up, made their nests under sun-dials and lived on

veal."[15] In Hunting of the Snark, Carroll says that the initial syllable of borogove is

pronounced as in borrow rather than as in worry.[14][17]

Brillig: 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."[14] According to Mischmasch, it is derived from the verb to bryl or broil.

Burbled: In a letter of December 1877, Carroll notes that "burble" could be a mixture of

the three verbs 'bleat', 'murmer', and 'warble', although he didn't remember creating it.[18]

[19]

Chortled: "Combination of 'chuckle' and 'snort'." (OED)

Frabjous: Possibly a blend of fair, fabulous, and joyous. Definition from Oxford English

Dictionary, credited to Lewis Carroll.

Frumious: Combination of "fuming" and "furious". In Hunting of the Snark Carroll

comments, "[T]ake 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'."[17]

Galumphing: Perhaps used in the poem a blend of 'gallop' and 'triumphant'.[18] Used later

by Kipling, and cited by Webster as "To move with a clumsy and heavy tread"[20]

Gimble:"To make holes as does a gimlet."[14]

Gyre: "To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope."[14] Gyre is entered in

the OED from 1420, meaning a circular or spiral motion or form; especially a giant

circular oceanic surface current. However, Carroll also wrote in Mischmasch that it

meant to scratch like a dog.[15] The g is pronounced like the /g/ in gold, not like gem.[21]

Jabberwocky: 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,'"[15]

Jubjub bird: 'A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion', according to the Butcher in

Carroll's later poem The Hunting of the Snark.[17] 'Jub' is an ancient word for a jerkin or a

dialect word for the trot of a horse (OED). It might make reference to the call of the bird

resembling the sound "jub, jub".[15]

Manxome: Possibly 'fearsome'; A portmanteau of "manly" and "buxom", the latter

relating to men for most of its history; or relating to Manx people.

Mimsy: " 'Mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable' ".[14]

Mome rath: Humpty Dumpty says following the poem: "A 'rath' is a sort of green pig: but

'mome" I'm not certain about. I think it's short for 'from home', meaning that they'd lost

their way".[14] Carroll's notes for the original in Mischmasch state: "a species of Badger

[which] had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag [and] lived

chiefly on cheese"[15] Explanatory book notes comment that 'Mome' means to seem

'grave' and 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."[15] In the1951 animated film adaptation of the book's prequel, the

mome raths are depicted as small, multi-colored creatures with tufty hair, round eyes,

and long legs resembling pipe stems.

Outgrabe: Humpty says " 'outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with

a kind of sneeze in the middle".[14]Carroll's book appendices suggest it is the past tense

of the verb to 'outgribe', connected with the old verb to 'grike' or 'shrike', which derived

'shriek' and 'creak' and hence 'squeak'.[15]

Slithy: 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."[14] The original in MischMasch notes that 'slithy' means "smooth and

active"[15] The iis long, as in writhe.

Snicker-snack: possibly related to the large knife, the snickersnee.[18]

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."[14] Pronounced so as to rhyme withgroves.[17] They

"gyre and gimble," i.e. rotate and bore.

Tulgey: Carroll himself said he could give no source for Tulgey. Could be taken to mean

thick, dense, dark.

Uffish: Carroll noted "It seemed to suggest a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the

manner roughish, and the temper huffish".[18][19]

Vorpal: 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".[22]

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".[14] In the

original MischMasch text, Carroll states a 'wabe' is "the side of a hill (from its being

soaked by rain)".[15]

[edit]Linguistics and poetics

Although 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.[23] The linguist 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.[7][24]

Parsons describes the work as a "semiotic catastrophe", arguing that the words create a

discernible narrative within the structure of the poem, although the reader cannot know what

they symbolise. She argues that Humpty 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 thetetrameter 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.[13]

Carroll wrote many poems parodies such as "Twinkle, twinkle little bat", "You are old, father

William" and "How doth the little crocodile?" They have become generally more well known

than the originals they are based on, and this is certainly the case with "Jabberwocky".[7]The

poems' success do not rely on any recognition or association of the poems they parody.

Lucas suggests that the original poems provide a strong container but Carroll's works are

famous precisely because of their random, surreal quality.[7]Carroll's grave playfulness has

been compared with that of the poet Edward Lear, though there is no evidence that Carroll

knew of his work. There are also parallels with the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins in the

high use of soundplay, alliteration, created-language andportmanteau. Both writers were

Carroll's contemporaries.[13]

[edit]Translations

Twas brilig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Jabberwocky" has been translated into many languages.[25] It becomes a difficult task

because the poems 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'slexicon, 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) in order 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)? ".[26]

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".[26]

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.[27] Chao Yuen Ren, a Chinese

linguist, translated the poem into Chinese[28] by inventing characters to imitate what Rob

Gifford of National Public Radio refers to as the "slithy toves that gyred and gimbled in the

wabe of Carroll's original".[29]Satyajit Ray, a film-maker, translated the work

into Bengali[30] and concrete poet Augusto de Campos created a Brazilian Portuguese

version. There is also an Arabic translation[31] by Wael Al-Mahdi, and at least two

into Croatian.[32]. Multiple translations into Latinwere made within the first weeks of Carroll's

original publication.[33]

[edit]Reception

According to Chesterton and Green and others, the original purpose of "Jabberwocky" was

to satirize both pretentious verse and ignorant literary critics. It was designed as verse

designed to show how not to write verse, but eventually became the subject of pedestrian

translation or explanation and incorporated into classroom learning.[34] 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.[35] 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."[36]

It is often now cited as one of the greatest nonsense poems written in the English language,

[2][3] the source for countless parodies and tributes. In most cases the writers have changed

the non-sense words into words relating to the parodied subject, as in Frank Jacobs's "If

Lewis Carroll Were a Hollywood Press Agent in the Thirties" in Mad for Better or Verse.

[37] Other writers use the poem as a form, much like a sonnet, and create their own words for

it as in "Strunklemiss" by S. K. Azoulay[38] or the poem "Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" recited

by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book

which contains numerous other references and homages to Carroll's work.[39]

Oh freddled gruntbuggly thy micturations are to me

As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.

Groop I implore thee my foonting turlingdromes

And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,

Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my

blurglecruncheon, see if I don't![40][39]

Some of the words that Carroll created such as "chortled" and "galumphing" have entered

the English language and are listed in theOxford English Dictionary. The word "jabberwocky"

itself has come to refer to non-sense language.

A song called "Beware the Jabberwock" was written for Disney's Alice in Wonderland, to be

sung by Stan Freberg with the Rhythmaires and Daws Butler. Written by Don

Raye and Gene de Paul, it was a musical rendition of the "Jabberwocky" verse. The song

was not included in the final film, but a demo recording was included in the 2004 and 2010

DVD releases of the movie.

[edit]See also

Works influenced by Alice in Wonderland

[edit]References

1. ^ a b Carroll, Lewis (2010) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the

Looking-Glass pp 64–65 Createspace ltdISBN 1-4505-7761-X

2. ^ a b Gardner, Martin (1999). The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. New York,

NY: W.W. Norton and Company. "Few would dispute that Jabberwocky is the

greatest of all nonsense poems in English."

3. ^ a b Rundus, Raymond J. (October 1967). ""O Frabjous Day!": Introducing

Poetry". The English Journal (National Council of Teachers of English) 56 (7): 958–

963. doi:10.2307/812632.JSTOR 812632.

4. ^ A Town Like Alice's (1997) Michael Bute Heritage Publications, Sunderland

5. ^ Alice in Sunderland (2007) Brian Talbot Dark Horse publications.

6. ^ Carpenter (1985), 55–56

7. ^ a b c d "Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" by

Lucas, Peter J. in Language History and Linguistic Modelling (1997) p503-520 ISBN

978-3-11-014504-5

8. ^ a b Hudson, Derek (1977) Lewis Carroll: an illustrated biography. Crown

Publishers, 76

9. ^ Martin Gardner (2000) The Annotated Alice. New York: Norton p 154, n. 42.

10. ^ "Hamlet and Jabberwocky" Essays by Sean Palmer 21 Aug 2005

11. ^ Carroll makes later reference to the same lines from HamletAct I, Scene i in the

1869 poem "Phantasmagoria". He wrote: "Shakspeare [sic] I think it is who treats/Of

Ghosts, in days of old,/Who 'gibbered in the Roman streets".

12. ^ a b Prickett, Stephen (2005) Victorian Fantasy Baylor University Press p80 ISBN

1-932792-30-9

13. ^ a b c Parsons, Marnie (1994) Touch monkeys: nonsense strategies for reading

twentieth-century poetry University of Toronto Press pp 67 -73 ISBN 0-8020-2983-3

14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Carroll, Lewis (2010) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and

Through the Looking-Glass p96 Createspace ltd ISBN 1-4505-7761-X

15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Carroll, Lewis (Author), Tenniel, John (2003) Alice's Adventures

in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Penguin Classics pp328-331 ISBN

0-14-143976-9

16. ^ Carroll, Lewis (2005) Through the Looking Glass. Hayes Barton Press p. 4 ISBN:

L99970160

17. ^ a b c d e f Lewis Carroll (2006) [1876]. The Annotated Hunting of the Snark. edited

with notes by Martin Gardner, illustrations by Henry Holiday and others, introduction

by Adam Gopnik("Definitive Edition" ed.). W. W. Norton. ISBN 0393062422.

18. ^ a b c d e Carroll, Lewis (2009) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the

Looking-Glass "Explanatory notes"; Editor: Hunt, Peter. OUP Oxford. p283 ISBN 0-

19-955829-9 References the Oxford English Dictionary (1530).

19. ^ a b Lewis Carroll, Letter to Maud Standen, December 1877

20. ^ The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories (1991) Merriam Webster

p247 ISBN 0-87779-603-3

21. ^ From the preface to Through the Looking-Glass.

22. ^ Gardner, Martin, ed. (1971) [1960]. The Annotated Alice. New York: The World

Publishing Company. pp. 195–196.

23. ^ Gross and McDowell (1996) Sound and form in modern poetry By p15 The

University of Michigan Press ISBN 0-472-06517-3

24. ^ 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 (1997) p503-520 ISBN 978-3-

11-014504-5

25. ^ Lim, Keith. Jabberwocky Variations: Translations. Accessed 2007-10-21.

26. ^ a b Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1980). "Translations of Jabberwocky". Gödel, Escher,

Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. New York, NY: Vintage Books. ISBN 0394745027.

27. ^ M. Gardner, ed., The Annotated Alice, 1960; London: Penguin 1970, p. 193f.

28. ^ Chao, Yuen Ren (1969). "Dimensions of Fidelity in Translation With Special

Reference to Chinese". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (Harvard-Yenching

Institute) 29: 109–130. doi:10.2307/2718830. JSTOR 2718830

29. ^ Gifford, Rob. "The Great Wall of the Mind." China Road.Random House. 2008.

237.

30. ^ Robinson, Andrew (2004) Satyajit Ray. I.B. Tauris p29

31. ^ Wael Al-Mahdi (2010) Jabberwocky in Arabic

32. ^ "Priča o Hudodraku, Karazubu i Jabberwockyju" (in Croatian). Kulturtreger / KK

Booksa. Retrieved date=2011-09-24.

33. ^ Vansittart, Augustus Arthur (1872). "Mors Iabrochii". In Zaroff, Ruth Ann (in

Latin). Jabberwocky. London.

34. ^ Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970) The Lewis Carroll Handbook, "Jabberwocky, and

other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London

35. ^ Prickett, Stephen (2005) Victorian Fantasy Baylor University Press p113 ISBN 1-

932792-30-9

36. ^ Chesterton, G. K (1953) "Lewis Carroll" in A Handful of Authors, ed. Dorothy

Collins, Sheed and Ward, London

37. ^ Jacobs, Frank (1968) Mad, for better or verse N.A.L

38. ^ Strunklemiss

39. ^ a b "Lewis Carroll in cyberspace" Guardian 12 August 2001

40. ^ "Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz. In Adams, Douglas (1988)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Pocket Books p65 ISBN 0-671-74606-5

[edit]Sources

Carpenter, Humphrey. (1985). Secret Gardens: The Golden Age of Children's Literature.

Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-35293-2

[edit]Further reading

Alakay-Gut, Karen. "Carroll's Jabberwocky". Explicator, Fall 1987. Volume 46, issue 1.

Dolitsky, Marlene (1984) Under the tumtum tree: from nonsense to sense, a study in

nonautomatic comprehension. J. Benjamins Pub. Co. Amsterdam, Philadelphia .

Gardner, Martin (1999). The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition. New York, NY:

W.W. Norton and Company.

Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970) The Lewis Carroll Handbook, "Jabberwocky, and other

parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London

Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1980). "Translations of Jabberwocky". Gödel, Escher, Bach: An

Eternal Golden Braid. New York, NY: Vintage Books. ISBN 0394745027.

Lucas, Peter J. (1997) "Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and

Oxford" in Language History and Linguistic Modelling ISBN 978-3-11-014504-5

Richards, Fran. "The Poetic Structure of Jabberwocky." Jabberwocky: The Journal of the

Lewis Carroll Society. 8:1 (1978/79). 16–19.

[edit]External links

England portal

Poetry portal

Wikisource has original text

related to this article:

Jabberwocky

Wikimedia Commons has media

related to: Jabberwocky

Essay: "Translations of Jabberwocky". Douglas R. Hofstadter, 1980 from Gödel, Escher,

Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid ISBN 0-394-74502-7, Vintage Books, New York, NY

BBC Video

Poetry Foundation Biography of Lewis Caroll

The Lewis Carroll Journal published by The Lewis Carroll Society.

Frazbile si granchioase

Nu, nu este vorba despre acea delicioasa nuvela SF, aia pe care o stiti unii dintre Dvs. E vorba despre the real thing. 

Va vine sa credeti ca am fost in stare sa tin minte prima strofa pe de rost? Eu, carele nu le am cu memoria si cu versurile?

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!"

Si iata o mostra de traducere: 

Stramina şi pietrele murcoaseSe învârtesc şi pivotează-n plastă -Frazbile toate, şi granchioase -Iar clipele le trec prin poarta vastă.

Acuma, pray thee, gentle reader, ca nu o (mai) gasesc. Stie cineva unde dam de acele doua mirabile traduceri in limba romana: una a raposatei Catinca Ralea, alta a nu mai stiu cui? Pe Internet? Ca asa, stiu unde le gasim: intr-un numar vechi al revistei Secolul XX, care sa moara pisica imbalsamata daca mai stiu pe unde este. 

Hai, contribuitzi si voi la frazbilitatea existentei noastre proprii si contemporane.

Anonim spunea...

Am găsit-o pe net tradusă integral (pe o pagină semnată Dr. OCTAVIAN LAIU):

Era frigază; bursele clemoase

Se şurubau şi titireau în murbă.

Triţari erau toţi borogovii

Şi beghiţau porvecii drubă.

Fereşte-te de Jabberwock,

De fălci ce-nşfacă, gheare reci,

De pasărea Jujub, vorace,

De-arţăvajnic Bandersnatch.

Cu sabia grozavnică în mână

Duşmanul îndelung el îl cătă,

Şi cufundat în gânduri negre

Sub pomul Tum-tum se-aşeză.

Şi cum stătea pe gânduri îl văzu - 

Cel Jabberwock, cu ochi de pară,

Venea hurdugolindu-se năvalnic,

Şuiermâind, scoţând văpăi pe nară.

Un - doi! Un - doi! Grozavnicul tăiş

Se năpusti şi-l puse în ţărână,

Iar capul i-l zbură - harş-hârş!

Şi galomfând, plecă cu tigva-n mână.

"Tu l-ai ucis pe Jabberwock?

Oh, fiul meu măruminos!

Oh, zi fereavă! Zi slăvoasă!"

Chiuhotea mereu voios.

Era frigază; bursele clemoase

Se şurubau şi titireau în murbă.

Triţari erau toţi borogovii

Şi beghiţau porvecii drubă.

18 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 15:19

Anonim spunea...

iar adresa este: http://www.geocities.com/tavilis/inexistente.htm

18 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 15:22

Anonim spunea...

S-ar putea ca a doua traducere să fi fost a Fridei Papadache, din 1971

18 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 15:34

Belle de Jour spunea...

mda.... in sfarsit ai ajuns la ....Hélène Cixous...asta era discutia de cu mult timp in urma...

spor...

18 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 21:30

MDP spunea...

Alice în ţara din oglindă a fost tradusă de Antoaneta Ralian, dar tălmăcirea versurilor îi

aparţine Ioanei Ieronim şi sună aşa: 

GÂNGĂVEALĂ

Era fierbirând şi burscii sprinlicioşii

Girau şi ferdeleau în plau

Armăruşari erau borogorioşii

Şi hasă raţii behluiau 

„Ia seama fiule, Smeliţa!

Fălci care muşcă, ghearele ce prind!

Ia seama tu la pasărea Jub-Jub

La cleştele de carne furubind

Atunci luă paloşul în mână

El, căutând duşmanul bărbătos

Sub pomul zis Tum-Tum în iarbă

Şedea pierdut în gânduri, colo jos. 

Şi pe când sta îngândurat

Smeliţa foc din ochii ei zvâclea

Zburând învâlvorată prin păduri

Ea bulbucea pe când venea. 

Un-doi, stâng-drept şi înainte marş

Vorpalicul tăiş izbi un-doi

Şi moartă o lăsă în drum, iar ţeasta 

I-o duse-n goana calului-napoi. 

Smeliţa ai ucis-o tu? 

Vino-mi în braţe, tânăr volaros

Tu, zi frabulioasă între toate, oh! 

Aşa strigă, peste măsură de voios. 

Era numină în tot vocul

Şi behluiau moioase lavuri

Mult lourat era nelocul

Şi murmii fuioroase-ntravuri. 

Strofa: 

Strămină şi pietrele murcoase

Se învârtesc şi pivotează-n plastă – 

Frazbile toate, şi granchioase – 

Iar clipele te trec prin poarta vastă. 

a apărut în Almanahul Anticipaţia 1989 în traducerea lui Mihai-Dan Pavelescu.

19 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 08:45

Turambar spunea...

Waw! Are you the real MDP, sau ti-ai pus nick-ul sa scoti in evidenta ca strofa aceea e

tradusa de MDP? 

In orice caz, doamnelor si domnilor, in caz ca nu stiti cine este MDP-ul: Mihai Dan

Pavelescu, cel mai priceput, muncitor, talentat si perseverent traducator si editor din SF-

ul romanesc recent si contemporan. Omul care a reinviat Colectia de Povestiri Stiintifico-

Fantastice, omul care a coordonat Almananul Anticipatia, omul care traduce de rupe, atat

cantitate, cat si calitate (cei care au citit Neuromancer in romaneste stiu). Perfectionist si

bibilitor si muncitor si prietenos si modest si priceput pana in varful destelor. Si care stie

Sci Fi pe paine.

Doamnelor si domnilor: MDP. Bow, thou heathens!

:)

19 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 09:09

Turambar spunea...

Tuturor celor care au postat traducerile in romana, mii de multzumiri. 

Si totusi: memoria mea cetzoasa si failibila parca imi spune ca mai era una. Undeva, in

coltul mintzii, bilbiloiul de servici zice: versiunea aia care itzi placea tzie cel mai mult,

stapane, nu e asta. E alta. 

Unde e alta?

:)

19 SEPTEMBRIE 2008, 09:16

Vixel spunea...

Din pacate din traducerea nuvelei "Frazbile si granchioase" care a aparut in almanahul

Anticipatia din 1989 (unde am citit-o si eu pentru prima data) lipseste traducerea unui

paragraf. A unui paragraf esential.

Textul integral in engleza aici: http://mimsyweretheborogoves.webs.com/index.htm

Paragraful ramas netradus este cel in care aflam de ce poezia Jabberwocky (sau mai

precis prima/ultima strofa a ei) reprezinta cheia calatoriei in timp.

8 IUNIE 2010, 19:34

Turambar spunea...

:) Txs for the tip, Vixel, and txs for reviving such and old subject. It's always good to see

that years-old posts still spark interest in our readers.

:)