The poem Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll was written in Victorian times and based on the author’s personal belief in creating your own original works. Jabberwocky is a poem written in the genre literary nonsense. This poem was written for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland series and was influenced by many of the author’s interests. In the time period that this was written, the idea that authors should create stories based off original idea was becoming popular. Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky is a strange poem that never ceases to gain people’s interest over time. It can’t be said for certain as to why this poem was written the way it was, but it is easy to see where Carroll got his influences for it.
Carroll lived in England during
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the Victorian era. The industrial revolution was taking Britain by storm by the time Queen Victoria took the throne (Tudor Rose, Life in Victorian England). Factories allowed Britain to produce more things and the newly constructed railways helped to easily transport goods. The railways also made communication easier and the telegraph made a big impact on the everyday lives of people (Robinson, All Change in the Victorian Age). Many new job opportunities within factories and the railways opened up as well. With the factories producing things at a fast rate, people were able to enjoy all the new free time they were able to have. People could go on vacation, read books, enjoy theatre productions, and participate in many different arts (Tudor Rose, Life in Victorian England). “There was time to read a novel during the Victorian period. Charles Dickens, Robert Lewis Stephenson, and H.G. Wells are just three of the authors who were popular” (Tudor Rose, Life in Victorian England). Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles L. Dodgeson (Bio.com, Lewis Carroll). Born in 1821 in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, Carroll proved that he had a creative mind early on. Though shy, he excelled in math, enjoyed photography, and loved to read and write. In writing short stories and poetry, he was able to express his creativity (Bio.com, Lewis Carroll). In school, he was able to develop his writing skills and study many authors and works of literature. He admired many authors, including William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Elizabeth Gaskell (Bio.com, Lewis Carroll). Carroll came to believe that an author should create something based off his or her own original ideas. Carroll often found it easy to speak with children on their level and his relationship with them inspired some of his best-known writings.
The book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was inspired by a little girl named Alice who Carroll would spend many hours with telling stories (Bio.com, Lewis Carroll). When the book was released in 1865 it gained popularity over time and soon Carroll wrote Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland soon became the most popular children's book in the world (Bio.com, Lewis Carroll).
Carroll was curator at Christ Church for a long time and he also taught (Merriman, Lewis Carroll). He submitted short stories to the Oxford Critic and The Comic Times. In 1861 Carroll became deacon in Christ Church Cathedral, but never had any interest in becoming fully ordained (Merriman, Lewis Carroll). He was encouraged to keep up his writing by his friends. Carroll eventually wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and it’s sequel. Lewis Carroll died on January 14, 1898 and is buried in Guildford, Surrey, England (Merriman, Lewis
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Carroll). Many of Carroll’s works are thought to be Children’s Literature, but critics have begun to think that they are actually literary nonsense (Lauren Millikan, Alice as Nonsense Literature). Though many agree that his works are forms of this genre, they do not agree on the intended effect of the nonsense he uses. The Jabberwocky is an example of literary nonsense that has no point at all. When asked what the riddle meant, Carroll admitted that there was no answer to it. The riddle was never meant to have an answer and that is what makes the Jabberwocky literary nonsense. “To have an answer ready would require forethought before the riddle was expressed, which nonsense does no allow” (Lauren Millikan, Alice as Nonsense Literature). Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were very popular back when they were written and are now considered classics.
The Jabberwocky was a poem that was added into Through the Looking Glass. The poem is very difficult to understand and few know what exactly is happening in the poem (Cathy Dean, The Jabberwocky). Alice’s reaction to the poem in the book is much like how the readers reacted when they read it. Alice points out that the poem is “very pretty, but rather hard to understand” (Cathy Dean, The Jabberwocky). The Jabberwocky first appeared in a magazine written for the Carroll family and was later revised and expanded in Through the Looking Glass (Cathy Dean, The Jabberwocky). Some of the words included in this poem are nonsense words. Some of these words became a part of our language used today (Cathy Dean, The Jabberwocky). Many these nonsense words may have a different meaning today because of the way the Victorian culture was. Even though the words may seem like nonsense, they could have held meaning for readers back then (Cathy Dean, The
Jabberwocky). For many years readers have loved the works of Carroll. He is able to capture the imagination and curiosity of children in almost all of his writing. His Alice stories are able to excite readers both young and old with fantastical, funny, and whimsical elements. Lewis Carroll uses literary nonsense in his poem Jabberwocky. The poem was written to have almost no meaning at all to it. The idea that an author should only produce original works strongly influenced Carroll’s writings including this poem. Jabberwocky was added into one of Carroll’s most famous works, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. It is easy to tell that the Alice books were written with children in mind. Both the Jabberwocky and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland had a whimsical and nonsense style to them. Based off his own interests and writing style, the poem Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll is one of the most popular poems of its genre.
“The Jabberwocky” is nonsense. Then again, so are Shakespeare’s works. Both contain words and phrases created by the authors who wrote them. Origin wise, “scuffled”, first heard in Antony and Cleopatra, is not unlike “slithy” or “gyre”. Emily Dickenson’s “I Could Not Stop for Death” is just as illogical as Carroll’s work. Both Dickenson and Carroll’s poems contain characters, which, in literal form, are non-existent in reality. One poem is just as hard to understand as another is. The difference between the three above poems, though, is that two live in the world of logical, adult understanding. “The Jabberwocky” stands out, because it thrives in childhood imagination.
He had insomnia and even Alice in Wonderland syndrome,which made it hard on him to sleep at night, but in which influenced Carroll even more to produce his famous writings and making his famous inventions. In Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, both contrast his life, since Alice is “sleeping” and dreaming in both. Alice in Wonderland syndrome, is a disease where one can begin to think there body is becoming smaller, and we see that in Through the Looking Glass Carroll writes, “the Queen was no longer at her side-- she had suddenly dwindled down to the size of a little doll…” (Carroll Ch. 9). He’s using advantage of his difficulties, which is smart, and putting them towards his writings, making him a strong inspiring writer.
Sir John Tenniel was an English Illustrator in the nineteenth century and famous for his book and Punch magazine illustrations towards the end of the century. Tenniel’s most credited illustrations were those featured in Lewis Carroll’s: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), now known simply as Alice in Wonderland. John Tenniel was a secluded person and kept himself from society the majority of his life, Tenniel was also mysterious as Engen (1991) suggests he was “an elusive, enigmatic and thoroughly private
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
Lewis Carroll's poem "The Jabberwocky," means something different to each of its readers. Lewis's use of diction, connotation, and portmanteaus words help the reader build their own personal understanding and meaning of the poem.
Lewis Carroll's use of puns and riddles in Alice in Wonderland help set the theme and tone. He uses word play in the book to show a world of warped reality and massive confusion. He uses such play on words to reveal the underlying theme of growing up', but with such an unusual setting and ridiculous characters, there is need for some deep analyzing to show this theme. The book contains many examples of assonance and alliteration to add humor. Carroll also adds strange diction and extraordinary syntax to support the theme.
Overall, Dodgson’s life and his unique interests, was what inspired him in his writing of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Drawing inspiration from everything around him, especially the things he appreciated eminently, creating one of the most famous and influential books of all time, that is still popular today, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. New York: The modern Library, 2002. Print
Lewis Carroll's Wonderland is a queer little universe where a not so ordinary girl is faced with the contradicting nature of the fantastic creatures who live there. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a child's struggle to survive in the condescending world of adults. The conflict between child and adult gives direction to Alice's adventures and controls all the outstanding features of the work- Alice's character, her relationship with other characters, and the dialogue. " Alice in Wonderland is on one hand so nonsensical that children sometimes feel ashamed to have been interested in anything so silly (Masslich 107)."
On January 27, 1832 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born in Daresbury, Cheshire Country, England. In 1943 his family moved to the croft Rectory in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, while he was enrolled at the Richmond public school. Three years later at the age of fourteen in the year of 1846, he went on to the Rugby school in Warwickshire. He spent three years at the school in Warwickshire and left in the year of 1849. Later he went to Oxford in 1851 and earned a B.A. with first class honors in mathematics and second class in classics in 1854. Several years later in 1857 he graduated with an M.A. finishing his studies at oxford. The year 1856 was advent of the use “Lewis Carroll” an Anglicized pseudonym, which he took to publish all his literary works. Mirroring his father’s career path, he obtained the position of Mathematical Lecturer at Oxford which he maintained from 1856 to 1881. Year 1861 he received holy orders, becoming a deacon at the Christ Church Cathedral, however he was unable to be ordained a priest due to his lack of interest in ministration. In 1865 he published the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, his most renowned literary pieces that is still talked about to this day. Four years later he published Phantasmagoria, a ten year collection of poems, and seven years after that was The Hunting of the Snark. All work associated with his knowledge of mathematics, such as Two Books of Euclid, Elementary Treatise on...
“’But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'” quoted by a very creative and imaginative author, Lewis Carroll, author of the hit Alice novels. This short novel was written by an extremely upright, ultra conservative man in which his unique character and many experiences had a great influence in the creation of Through the Looking Glass. Of all of Carroll’s works, Alice’s Through the Looking Glass, has a unique way of expressing adventures and stating the events in which occur throughout the whole novel making the novel standout in the category of whimsical, nonsense literature. The novel includes 12 chapters in which every new chapter brings you into different exotic settings introducing you to many peculiar characters involving the only and only Alice, the Tweedledum twins, Red Queen, White King, Humpty Dumpty Walrus and Carpenter. Meeting these characters brought her to finally achieving what her destination had been since the start; she finally became her normal size, making it into the garden. The events and settings involved with Through the Looking Glass make it a very fictional, imaginative novel. Carroll's imagination takes readers with Alice into where she finds the Looking-Glass House. Using the game of chess as the setting of his novel, he fills the novel with situations and puzzles from the ordinary to the extraordinary; including silly characters and adventures in which may be nonsensical, using the game of chess as the setting.
In such a cherished children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, has caused great commotion in political and social satire. It slowly but surely grew into one of the most adored publications in the Victorian era, expanding into today’s modern age. Lewis Carroll was the pen name utilized by Charles L. Dodgson and has forth created a sequel named Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There composed first in 1871. In short, the text of the story presented with a feminist approach, a corrupt judicial system of Victorian England, the caucus race, and the absence of a childhood, the evolution of species, and Marxism.
Lewis, Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. New York: Oxford, 2009. Print.
The characters in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are more than whimsical ideas brought to life by Lewis Carroll. These characters, ranging from silly to rude, portray the adults in Alice Liddell’s life. The parental figures in Alice’s reality, portrayed in Alice in Wonderland, are viewed as unintellectual figures through their behaviors and their interactions with one another. Alice’s interactions with the characters of Wonderland reflect her struggles with adults in real life. Naturally curious as she is, Alice asks questions to learn from the adults.
Richard Morton, (December, 1960). "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". Elementary English. 37 (8), pp.509-513