Do you know the poem "Jabberwocky"? Most people do, but do you really know the poem? I have actually never read in full the story of Alice in Wonderland, but I do know that the poem comes from "Through the Looking Glass", a version that Disney has yet to make. Well, for me this poem is special. As young children my father used to gather us (6 of us kids) up behind a chair in the living room (kind of tucked into a corner) and he would recite "Jabberwocky" from memory. Now, seeing how it is a poem of nonsense it probably doesn't really impress too many people. But dad found the art in it. He really actually acted out the poem. The "jaws that bite" and "the claws that catch" would really freak us out. When the young hero has his battle with the Jabberwocky my dad would act out the sword fight. The funny thing is that even though we all got to the point where we could recite it along with him, we would all still scream when he got to the exciting parts. This is one of those things that may not make sense to most people, but it is special to me.
Lewis Carroll(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
`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, has 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.
2 comments:
Katie, I just think that is such a neat memory to have of your Dad with you and your siblings!
What a neat memory. I bet you are going to do the same thing once you have kiddos.
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