In an early scene in which she first encounters the chess piece charactersWhite 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 verses on the pages are written inmirror 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 passed 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 Englishnonsense words andneologisms such as "galumphing" and "chortle".
A decade before the publication ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland and the sequelThrough the Looking-Glass, Carroll wrote the first stanza to what would become "Jabberwocky" while inCroft-on-Tees, where his parents resided. It was printed in 1855 inMischmasch, a periodical he wrote and illustrated for the amusement of his family. The piece, titled "Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry", reads:
Twas bryllyg, and þe slythy toves Did gyre and gymble in þe wabe: All mimsy were þe borogoves; And þe mome raths outgrabe.
The stanza is printed first in faux-mediaeval lettering as a "relic of ancient Poetry" (in whichþe isa form of the wordthe) and printed again "in modern characters".[4]The rest of the poem was written during Carroll's stay with relatives atWhitburn, nearSunderland. The story may have been partly inspired by the local Sunderland area legend of theLambton Worm[5][6] and the tale of theSockburn Worm.[7]
The concept of nonsense verse was not original to Carroll, who would have known ofchapbooks such asThe World Turned Upside Down[8] and stories such as "The Grand Panjandrum". Nonsense existed inShakespeare's work and was well-known in theBrothers Grimm's fairytales, some of which are called lying tales orlügenmärchen.[9] BiographerRoger Lancelyn Green suggested that "Jabberwocky" was a parody of the German ballad "The Shepherd of the Giant Mountains",[10][11][12] which had been translated into English by Carroll's cousinMenella Bute Smedley in 1846.[11][13] 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.[14][15]
John Tenniel reluctantly agreed to illustrate the book in 1871,[16] and his illustrations are still the defining images of the poem. The illustration of the Jabberwock may reflect the contemporary Victorian obsession withnatural history and the fast-evolving sciences ofpalaeontology andgeology. Stephen Prickett notes that in the context ofDarwin andMantell's publications and vast exhibitions of dinosaurs,such as those at the Crystal Palace from 1854, it is unsurprising that Tenniel gave the Jabberwock "the leathery wings of apterodactyl and the long scaly neck and tail of asauropod."[16]
Many of the words in the poem are playfulnonce words of Carroll's own invention, without intended explicit meaning. WhenAlice 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.[17]
InThrough the Looking-Glass, the character ofHumpty Dumpty, in response to Alice's request, explains to her the non-sense words from the first stanza of the poem, but Carroll's personal commentary on several of the words differ from Humpty Dumpty's. For example, following the poem, a "rath" is described by Humpty Dumpty as "a sort of green pig".[18] Carroll's notes for the original inMischmasch 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.[19] The appendices to certainLooking Glass editions state that the creature is "a species of land turtle" that lived on swallows and oysters.[19] 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 bookThe Annotated Alice byMartin Gardner.
In 1868, Carroll asked his publishers,Macmillan, "Have you any means, or can you find any, for printing a page or two in the next volume of Alice in reverse?" It may be that Carroll was wanting to print the whole poem in mirror writing. Macmillan responded that it would cost a great deal more to do, and this may have dissuaded him.[19]
In the author's note to the Christmas 1896 edition ofThrough 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 onthat 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'."[20]
In the Preface toThe 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."[21]
Bandersnatch: A swift moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its neck.[21] 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.[19]
Beamish: Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful. Although Carroll may have believed he had coined this word, usage in 1530 is cited in theOxford English Dictionary.[22]
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." InMischmasch borogoves are described differently: "An extinct kind of Parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, and made their nests under sun-dials: lived on veal."[19] InHunting of the Snark, Carroll says that the initial syllable ofborogove is pronounced as inborrow rather than as inworry.[21]
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."[18] According toMischmasch, it is derived from the verb tobryl orbroil.
Burbled: In a letter of December 1877, Carroll notes that "burble" could be a mixture of the three verbs 'bleat', 'murmur', and 'warble', although he did not remember creating it.[22][23]
Chortled: "Combination of 'chuckle' and 'snort'." (OED)
Frabjous: Possibly a blend of "fair", "fabulous", and "joyous". Definition fromOxford English Dictionary, credited to Lewis Carroll.
Frumious: Combination of "fuming" and "furious". In the Preface toThe 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'."[21]
Galumphing: Perhaps used in the poem as a blend of "gallop" and "triumphant".[22] Used later byKipling, and cited by Webster as "To move with a clumsy and heavy tread"[24][25]
Gimble: Humpty Dumpty comments that it means: "to make holes like agimlet."[18]
Gyre: "To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope."[18]Gyre is entered in theOED from 1420, meaning a circular or spiral motion or form; especially a giant circular oceanic surface current. Carroll also wrote inMischmasch that it meant to scratch like a dog.[19] Theg is pronounced like the /g/ ingold, not likegem (since this was how "gyroscope" was pronounced in Carroll's day).[26]
Jabberwock: When a class in theGirls' Latin School in Boston asked Carroll's permission to name their school magazineThe Jabberwock, he replied: "TheAnglo-Saxon word 'wocer' or 'wocor' signifies 'offspring' or 'fruit'. Taking 'jabber' in its ordinary acceptation of 'excited and voluble discussion', this would give the meaning of 'the result of much excited and voluble discussion'..."[19] It is often depicted as a monster similar to adragon. John Tenniel's illustration depicts it with a long serpentine neck, rabbit-like teeth, spidery talons, bat-like wings and, as a humorous touch, a waistcoat. In the 2010 film version ofAlice in Wonderland it is shown with large back legs, small dinosaur-like front legs, and on the ground it uses its wings as front legs like apterosaur, and it breathes out lightning flashes rather than flame.
Jubjub bird: "A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion", according to the Butcher in Carroll's later poemThe Hunting of the Snark.[21] 'Jub' is an ancient word for ajerkin 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".[19]
Manxome: Possibly 'fearsome'; Possibly a portmanteau of "manly" and "buxom", the latter relating to men for most of its history; or "three-legged" after thetriskelion emblem of theManx people from theIsle of Man.
Mimsy: Humpty Dumpty comments that"'Mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable'".[18]
Mome: Humpty Dumpty is uncertain about this one: "I think it's short for 'from home', meaning that they'd lost their way, you know". The notes inMischmasch give a different definition of 'grave' (via 'solemome', 'solemone' and 'solemn').
Outgrabe: Humpty Dumpty says"'outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle".[18] 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'.[19]
Rath: Humpty Dumpty says following the poem: "A 'rath' is a sort of green pig". Carroll's notes for the original inMischmasch state that 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."[19] In the1951 animated film adaptation of the previous book, the raths are depicted as small, multi-coloured creatures with tufty hair, round eyes, and long legs resembling pipe stems.
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."[18] The original inMischmasch notes that 'slithy' means "smooth and active".[19] Thei is long, as inwrithe.
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."[18] Pronounced so as to rhyme withgroves.[21] They "gyre and gimble", i.e., rotate and bore. Toves are described slightly differently inMischmasch: "a species of Badger [which] had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag [and] lived chiefly on cheese".[19]
Tulgey: Carroll himself said he could give no source for this word. It could be taken to mean thick, dense, dark. It has been suggested that it comes from theAnglo-Cornish wordtulgu, 'darkness', which in turn comes fromCornishtewolgow 'darkness, gloominess'.[27]
Uffish: Carroll noted, "It seemed to suggest a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish".[22][23]
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".[28] It has appeared in dictionaries as meaning both 'deadly' and 'extremely sharp'.[29]
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".[18] In the originalMischmasch text, Carroll states a 'wabe' is "the side of a hill (from its being soaked by rain)".[19]
Humpty Dumpty who explains to Alice the definitions of some of the words in "Jabberwocky". Illustration byJohn Tenniel, 1871
Though the poem contains many nonsensical words, Englishsyntax and poetic forms are observed, such as thequatrain verses, the generalABAB rhyme scheme and theiambicmeter.[30] Linguist Peter 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.[10][31]
Marnie Parsons describes the work as a "semiotic catastrophe", arguing that the words create a discernible narrative within the structure of the poem, though the reader cannot know what they symbolise. She argues that Humpty Dumpty 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 theprosody of the poem: in the tussle between thetetrameter in the first three lines of each stanza andtrimeter in the last lines, such that one undercuts the other and we are left off balance, like the poem's hero.[17]
Carroll wrote many poem parodies such as "Twinkle, twinkle little bat", "You Are Old, Father William" and "How Doth the Little Crocodile?" Some have become generally better known than the originals on which they are based, and this is certainly the case with "Jabberwocky".[10] The poems' successes do not rely on any recognition of or association with the poems that 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.[10] Carroll's grave playfulness has been compared with that of the poetEdward Lear; there are also parallels with the work ofGerard Manley Hopkins in the frequent use of soundplay,alliteration, created-language andportmanteau. Both writers were Carroll's contemporaries.[17]
"Jabberwocky" has been translated into 65 languages.[32] The translation might be difficult because the poem 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 themorphology 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) 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)? ".[33]
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 roughisomorphism, partly global, partly local, between the brains of all the readers".[33]
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 inThe Annotated Alice along with a discussion of why some translation decisions were made.[34]Chao Yuen Ren, a Chinese linguist, translated the poem into Chinese[35] by inventing characters to imitate whatRob Gifford ofNational Public Radio refers to as the "slithy toves that gyred and gimbled in the wabe of Carroll's original".[36]Satyajit Ray, a film-maker, translated the work intoBengali[37] andconcrete poetAugusto de Campos created a Brazilian Portuguese version. There is also an Arabic translation[38][39] by Wael Al-Mahdi, and at least two intoCroatian.[40] Multiple translations intoLatin were made within the first weeks of Carroll's original publication.[41] In a 1964 article,M. L. West published two versions of the poem inAncient Greek that exemplify the respective styles of theepic poetsHomer andNonnus.[42]
According to Chesterton and Green and others, the original purpose of "Jabberwocky" was to satirise both pretentious verse and ignorant literary critics. It was designed as verse showing how not to write verse, but eventually became the subject of pedestrian translation or explanation and incorporated into classroom learning.[50] It has also been interpreted as a parody of contemporary Oxford scholarship and specifically the story of howBenjamin Jowett, the notoriously agnostic Professor of Greek at Oxford, and Master ofBalliol, came to sign theThirty-Nine Articles, as an Anglican statement of faith, to save his job.[51] The transformation of audience perception from satire to seriousness was in a large part predicted byG. 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."[52]
It is often now cited as one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English,[3][2] the source for countless parodies and tributes. In most cases the writers have changed the nonsense words into words relating to the parodied subject, as inFrank Jacobs's "If Lewis Carroll Were a Hollywood Press Agent in the Thirties" inMad for Better or Verse.[53] Other writers use the poem as a form, much like asonnet, and create their own words for it as in "Strunklemiss" byShay K. Azoulay[54] or the poem "Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" recited byProstetnic Vogon Jeltz inDouglas Adams'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a 1979 book which contains numerous other references and homages to Carroll's work.[55]
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![55][56]
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 nonsense language.
In American Sign Language, Eric Malzkuhn invented the sign for "chortled". It unintentionally caught on and became a part of American Sign Language's lexicon as well.[57]
A song called "Beware the Jabberwock" was written for Disney's 1951 animated filmAlice in Wonderland sung byStan Freberg, but it was discarded, replaced with "'Twas Brillig", sung by theCheshire Cat, that includes the first stanza of "Jabberwocky".
In 1972, the American composerSam Pottle put the poem to music.[60] The stage musicalJabberwocky (1973) by Andrew Kay, Malcolm Middleton and Peter Phillips, follows the basic plot of the poem.[61][62] KeyboardistsClive Nolan andOliver Wakeman released a musical versionJabberwocky (1999) with the poem read in segments byRick Wakeman.[63] British contemporary lieder group Fall in Green set the poem to music for a single release (2021) on Cornutopia Music.[64][65]
In 1975, the musical groupAmbrosia included the text ofJabberwocky in the lyrics of "Mama Frog" (credited to musicians Puerta, North, Drummond, and Pack) on their debut albumAmbrosia.[66]
In 1980The Muppet Show staged a full version of "Jabberwocky" for TV viewing, with the Jabberwock and other creatures played by Muppets closely based on Tenniel's original illustrations. According to Jaques and Giddens, it distinguished itself by stressing the humor and nonsense of the poem.[67]
In 2016, the musical groupWeezer included the text of "Jabberwocky" in the lyrics of "L.A. Girlz"[72] which was included on their tenth studio albumWeezer.
^abCarroll, Lewis (2010)Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass pp 64–65 Createspace ltdISBN1-4505-7761-X
^abGardner, 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.
^abRundus, Raymond J. (October 1967). ""O Frabjous Day!": Introducing Poetry".The English Journal.56 (7). National Council of Teachers of English:958–963.doi:10.2307/812632.JSTOR812632.
^abcd"Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" by Lucas, Peter J. inLanguage History and Linguistic Modelling (1997) p503-520ISBN978-3-11-014504-5
^abHudson, Derek (1977)Lewis Carroll: an illustrated biography. Crown Publishers, 76
^Ronald Reichertz (2000).The Making of the Alice Books: Lewis Carroll's Uses of Earlier Children's Literature. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 99.ISBN0-7735-2081-3.
^Martin Gardner (2000)The Annotated Alice. New York: Norton p 154, n. 42.
^Carroll makes later reference to the same lines fromHamlet Act 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".
^abPrickett, Stephen (2005)Victorian Fantasy Baylor University Press p80ISBN1-932792-30-9
^abcParsons, Marnie (1994)Touch monkeys: nonsense strategies for reading twentieth-century poetry, pp. 67–73. University of Toronto Press.ISBN0-8020-2983-3
^Carroll, Lewis (2005)Through the Looking Glass. Hayes Barton Press p. 4
^abcdefLewis Carroll (2006) [1876].The Annotated Hunting of the Snark. edited with notes byMartin Gardner, illustrations by Henry Holiday and others, introduction byAdam Gopnik (Definitive ed.). W. W. Norton.ISBN0-393-06242-2.
^abcdeCarroll, Lewis (2009). "Explanatory notes". In Hunt, Peter (ed.).Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. OUP Oxford. p. 283.ISBN978-0-19-955829-2. References theOxford English Dictionary (1530).
^abLewis Carroll, Letter to Maud Standen, December 1877
^The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories. Merriam Webster. 1991. p. 247.ISBN0-87779-603-3.
^Gross and McDowell (1996).Sound and form in modern poetry, p. 15. The University of Michigan Press.ISBN0-472-06517-3
^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. inLanguage History and Linguistic Modelling, pp. 503–520. 1997.ISBN3-11-014504-9
^Lindseth, Jon A. – Tannenbaum, Alan (eds.):Alice in a World of Wonderlands: The Translations of Lewis Carroll's Masterpiece, vol. I, p. 747. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, 2015.ISBN978-1-58456-331-0.
^M. Gardner, ed., The Annotated Alice, 1960; London: Penguin 1970, p. 193f.
^Chao, Yuen Ren (1969). "Dimensions of Fidelity in Translation With Special Reference to Chinese".Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies.29. Harvard-Yenching Institute:109–130.doi:10.2307/2718830.JSTOR2718830.
^Vansittart, Augustus Arthur (1872). Zaroff, Ruth Ann (ed.)."Mors Iabrochii".Jabberwocky (in Latin). London.Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved4 February 2011.
^M. L. West, "Two Versions of Jabberwocky",Greece & Rome Vol. 11 No. 2, October 1964, pp. 185–187.
^Carrol, Lewis (1984).Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice found there [Las Aventuras de Alicia] (in Spanish). Translated by Buckley, Ramón. Anaya.ISBN84-7525-171-4.
^This rendering comes from Rosvall'sFinnish translation ofFredric Brown's novelNight of the Jabberwock (Syntipukin yö).
^"jabberwocky". home.agh.edu.pl.Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved11 August 2016.
^National Library of Australia (1974).Catalogue entry. Canberra, ACT: Printed by the Guild of Undergraduates, University of Western Australia.Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved5 September 2011.
^Music Australia."Catalogue entry". Sydney, NSW.Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved5 September 2011.
^Ambrosia album released by Warner Brothers Records, Inc. "Mama Frog" copyrighted 1974 by Rubicon Music (BMI).
^Jaques, Zoe; Giddens, Eugene (6 May 2016).Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking – Glass: A publishing History. Routledge. p. 207.
^Craig Stenseth, Ed Greenwood and Roger E. Moore (October 1981). "The Dragon's Bestiary". In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #54 (TSR, Inc.), p. 30.
Carpenter, Humphrey (1985).Secret Gardens: The Golden Age of Children's Literature. Houghton Mifflin.ISBN0-395-35293-2 Medievil 1998 sony playstation 1
Alakay-Gut, Karen. "Carroll's Jabberwocky".Explicator, Fall 1987. Volume 46, issue 1.
Borchers, Melanie. "A Linguistic Analysis of Lewis Carroll's Poem 'Jabberwocky'".The Carrollian: The Lewis Carroll Journal. Autumn 2009, No. 24, pp. 3–46.ISSN1462-6519.
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: W .W. Norton and Company.
Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970).The Lewis Carroll Handbook, "Jabberwocky, and other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London
Lucas, Peter J. (1997). "Jabberwocky back to Old English: Nonsense, Anglo-Saxon and Oxford" inLanguage History and Linguistic Modelling.ISBN978-3-11-014504-5.
Richards, Fran. "The Poetic Structure of Jabberwocky".Jabberwocky: The Journal of the Lewis Carroll Society. 8:1 (1978/79):16–19.
Jabberwocky public domain audiobook atLibriVox
