Analysis of Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll 1832 (Daresbury) – 1898 (Guildford)
'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.
Scheme | ABAB cdcd xexe fgfg xhxh hbxx ABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 110011 1101001 11001 00111 010111 01110111 0101101 011 1111101 1101111 11011011 010101 0101111 011111 111011 010111 11110101 0111101 11110111 1111 011101 11111101 11111 110011 110011 1101001 11001 00111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 911 |
Words | 172 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 1,131 Views
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"Jabberwocky" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25769/jabberwocky>.
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