Recently, I finished Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and, might I add, they are the trippiest books I have ever read. The poem “Jabberwocky” is in Through the Looking Glass and, though contrary to the absolute nightmare that is the Disney live action movie, there is no fight with the Jabberwocky. The poem famous for making absolutely no sense, so I am here to help explain what this poem means. Let’s start with the poem itself. (Note: this is extracted from the original unabridged text of Through the Looking Glass, so I know it’s right.)
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! Calooh! 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.
Huh?
This is an absolute mess. No matter how you look at this, it still makes no sense. Let us delve into this and see just what it means. Here’s the first stanza:
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
This is still a mouthful. Let’s just take the first line:
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
By the way, the whole first verse is explained by Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass, so I am getting this info from that. First, “‘Twas” means “it was,” but you probably knew that already. “Brillig,” according to our good friend Humpty, means 4 P.M., so around dinner time. “Slithy” means “lithe,” or flexible, and “slimy” put together in the same word. A “tove” is part lizard, part badger, and part corkscrew. Soooo… this? Yes, very interesting.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
So “gyre” means to go around like a gyroscope, and to “gimble” (pun intended) is to make holes like a gimblet. A “wabe” is the area surrounding a sundial. Already, this makes a strange scene.
All mimsy were the borogoves,
“Mimsy” means flimsy and miserable, and a “borogove” is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out, kind of like a live mop.
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Well “mome” means “from home”, or lost, and a “rath” is a sort of green pig. To “outgrabe” is to bellow, whistle, and sneeze at the same time.
Now, put it all together and this is what you get:
It was 4 P.M., and the badger-lizard-corkscrews
Were spinning around and making holes in the ground in the area near a sundial;
The ruffled birds were flimsy and miserable,
And the lost green pigs were bellowing, whistling, and sneezing at the same time.
Even translated, its gibberish. But at least its real words now.
This first stanza is the one that makes the least sense, so I should be able to take the rest a full stanza at a time.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
This kinda makes sense. The “Jabberwock” is evidently a Jabberwocky, a beast with sharp jaws and claws. A “Jubjub bird” is a large, dangerous bird. “Frumious” apparently means fuming and furious, while a “Bandersnatch” is a long-necked creature that is extremely fast and dangerous. This is not a Bandersnatch. Thus, we have the following:
“Beware the beast, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the large killer bird, and shun
The fuming and furious long-necked fast thing!”
I think I get it!
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.
All right. So a “vorpal sword” is like a supernatural sword like Excalibur. “Manxome “means fearsome, and a “tumtum” is a type of drum. A tree is, well, a tree (so this?), giving us:
He took his supernatural sword in hand.
Long time the fearsome foe he sought—
So rested he by the drum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
Kinda weird, but okay.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
Well, “uffish”tells us that the voice is gruff, the manner rough, and the temper huffy (take gruff, rough and huff[y], add “ish,” and you get the “uffish” sound Carroll is referring to.) “Eyes of flame” is self explanatory. To “whiffle” is to move or think erratically. “Tulgey” means thick and dark. This is a tulgey wood. To “burble” is to make a continuous murmuring noise.
And as in gruff, rough, huffy thought he stood
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
Came moving erratically through the thick and dark wood
And murmured as it came!
Well, that’s different.
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.
This is pretty easy. We know what a vorpal sword is, so all we need is “galumphing,” meaning to move in a clumsy way.
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The supernatural blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went moving clumsily back.
It made sense! Yay!
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Calooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
“Hast thou” means “have you.” “Beamish” means beaming with happiness, so smiling and joyful. “Frabjous” can mean wonderful, incredible, or delicious (a delicious day?) See, ’cause they’re dates, like dates on a calendar, which are days… Clever. “Calooh” and “callay” are exclamations like “yippy!” and “woohoo!”. To “chortle” is to laugh in a strange way.
“And have you slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my happy boy!
O delicious day! Calooh! Callay!”
He laughed awkwardly in his joy.
There you have it! “Wait, Lewis,” you may ask, “what about the seventh stanza?” “Are you incompetent?” “Can you not read?” “Have you goofed something else up?” No, I haven’t. If you go back a bit, you may see that the last stanza is the exact same as the first. So, if everyone stops blaming me for everything, you will notice that we are done. But, no fear, I will now compile the entirety of the translated poem. Ta da!
Jabberwocky (readable version)
It was 4 P.M., and the badger-lizard-corkscrews
Were spinning around and making holes in the ground in the area near a sundial;
The ruffled birds were flimsy and miserable,
And the lost green pigs were bellowing, whistling, and sneezing at the same time.
“Beware the beast, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the large killer bird, and shun
The fuming and furious long-necked fast thing!”
He took his supernatural sword in hand.
Long time the fearsome foe he sought—
So rested he by the drum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in gruffish, roughish, huffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came moving erratically through the thick and dark wood,
And murmured as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The supernatural blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went moving clumsily back.
“And have you slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my happy boy!
O delicious day! Calooh! Callay!”
He laughed awkwardly in his joy.
It was 4 P.M., and the badger-lizard-corkscrews
Were spinning around and making holes in the ground in the area near a sundial;
The ruffled birds were flimsy and miserable,
And the lost green pigs were bellowing, whistling, and sneezing at the same time.
The Shield 
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