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

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. more…

All Lewis Carroll poems | Lewis Carroll Books

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