Sin sentido

Jabberwocky, es el poema más famoso escrito por Lewis Carroll, un texto sin sentido acerca de la muerte de una fantástica criatura llamada "del Jabberwock".

Jabberwocky es considerado uno de los más grandes poemas sin sentido escritos en Inglés. Su lenguaje lúdico y caprichoso ha dado palabras y neologismos como "galumphing" and "chortle" en inglés.

"Jabberwocky"

Jabberwock, interpretación de John Tenniel.

'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.

Muchas de las palabras en el poema son neologismos lúdicos de la propia invención de Carroll, sin significado explícito previsto.

Cuando Alicia ha terminado de leer el poema que da sus impresiones:

¡Parece muy bonito, pero es bastante difícil de entender! De alguna manera, llena mi cabeza con ideas — ¡sólo que no sé exactamente lo que son! De todos modos, alguien mató a algo: eso está claro.

Esto puede o no ser un reflejo de las intenciones de Carroll para con sus lectores; el poema es, después de todo, parte de un sueño. En escritos posteriores se discutió un poco de su léxico, comentando que él no sabía el significado específico o el origen de algunas de las palabras; la ambigüedad lingüística y la incertidumbre en todo el libro y el poema, pueden ser el punto en sí mismo.

Nonsense

Jabberwocky, is the most famous poem written by Lewis Carroll a nonsense text about the killing of a fantastic creature called "the Jabberwock".

Jabberwocky is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English. Its playful, whimsical language has given English nonsense words and neologisms such as "galumphing" and "chortle".

"Jabberwocky"

The Jabberwock, as illustrated by John Tenniel.

'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.

Many of the words in the poem are playful nonce words of Carroll's own invention, without intended explicit meaning.

When Alice has finished reading the poem she gives her impressions:

It seems very pretty, but it's rather hard to understand! 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.

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.