Poetry in Motion It S All Nonsense Lewis Carroll and Jabberwocky Learning Activities Activity

Unravelling the puzzle

In Through the Looking Glass, Alice asks Humpty Dumpty to explain the meaning of the words in Jabberwocky. These words have been highlighted in the poem and a definition for each word has been given on page two.

/ To complete this activity

Read the verse below and highlight any words you think have been created by its author, Lewis Carroll.
Then go to the activity ‘Nonsense words with nonsense meanings’ on the following page.

Hint:You might have a great idea about how to present your work differently. Check with your teacher first to decide how this will be presented.
Remember!Save your completed work in your portfolio.

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

’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! 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.
(Carroll, 1872)

Nonsense words with nonsense meanings

/ To complete this activity

Select five of the words you highlighted in the poem above and add them to the table on the next page.
Based on your understanding of how Lewis Carroll created words – by blending two or more words together – and on your understanding of the poem’s story, create some definitions for the five words you have selected and write them next to your words in the table.

Hint:You might have a great idea about how to present your work differently. Check with your teacher first to decide how this will be presented.
Remember!Save your completed work in your portfolio.
Nonsense word / Definition
brillig / four o’clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin broiling things for dinner
toves / creatures that are a combination of a badger, a lizard and a corkscrew and that make their nests under sundials and eat cheese
gyre / to go round and round like a gyroscope
wabe / the grass plot round a sundial
borogrove / thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round – something like a live mop
rath / a sort of green pig
outgrabe / something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle
bandersnatch / a swift-moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its neck
beamish / radiantly grinning, happy, cheerful
Nonsense word / Definition