Re: Verbus.
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Fri, 27 Nov 1998 10:38:36 +1100
Just yesterday someone borrowed my deluxe copy of Alice in Wonderland and
Alice Through the Looking Glass, but if they hadn't I would have directed
you to the section where Humpty Dumpty recites Jabberwocky to Alice and
tells her how to interpret it. I'm just searching for a copy online (all I
can find is a non-gender specific version, AARGH. The Mentally Impaired
Hatter??? The Inauthentic Amphibio-Lacto Land Animal ???) I think the
wonderful thing about the Jabberwock is that it's far scarier than anything
that is described in perfect detail, because everyone makes their own
personal image of it. (and how wonderful is `snicker-snack'!?)
Here we are: (This is from
http://www.literature.org/Works/Lewis-Carroll/through-the-looking-glass/chap
ter-06.html )
" `You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir,' said Alice. `Would you
kindly tell me the meaning of the poem called "Jabberwocky"?'
`Let's hear it,' said Humpty Dumpty. `I can explain all the poems that were
ever invented -- and a good many that haven't been invented just yet.'
This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
`That's enough to begin with,' Humpty Dumpty interrupted: `there are plenty
of hard words there. "Brillig" means four o'clock in the afternoon -- the
time when you begin broiling things for dinner.'
`That'll do very well,' said Alice: and "slithy"?'
`Well, "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.'
`I see it now,' Alice remarked thoughtfully: `and what are "toves"?'
`Well, "toves" are something like badgers -- they're something like lizards
-- and they're something like corkscrews.'
`They must be very curious looking creatures.'
`They are that,' said Humpty Dumpty: `also they make their nests under
sun-dials -- also they live on cheese.'
`Andy what's the "gyre" and to "gimble"?'
`To "gyre" is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To "gimble" is to
make holes like a gimblet.'
`And "the wabe" is the grass-plot round a sun-dial, I suppose?' said Alice,
surprised at her own ingenuity.
`Of course it is. It's called "wabe," you know, because it goes a long way
before it, and a long way behind it -- '
`And a long way beyond it on each side,' Alice added.
`Exactly so. Well, then, "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable" (there's another
portmanteau for you). And a "borogove" is a thing shabby-looking bird with
its feathers sticking out all round -- something like a live mop.'
`And then "mome raths"?' said Alice. `I'm afraid I'm giving you a great
deal of trouble.'
`Well, 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, you
know.'
`And what does "outgrabe" mean?'
`Well, "outgribing" is something between bellowing and whistling, with a
kind of sneeze in the middle: however, you'll hear it done, maybe -- down
in the wood yonder -- and when you've once heard it you'll be quite
content. Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?'
`I read it in a book,' said Alice. `But I had some poetry repeated to me,
much easier than that, by -- Tweedledee, I think it was.' "
Ellen wrote:
> Now... maybe he thought this means something... but I have no clue. But
I
> bet not one of you on this list can honestly say that you aren't getting
a
> picture of what the Jabberwock looks like. It makes sense because of the
way
> we interpret it, not because of the author's intent.
Hope this is of some help!
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest