Jabberwocky is a very peculiar poem written by Lewis Carroll. The poem is infamous for its ‘nonsense’ so the reader must dig deep to find the meaning of the poem. Jabberwocky begins with a father warning his son of the Jabberwock and two other horrible creatures, the Jubjub bird, and a Bandersnatch. These are beasts he may encounter as he adventures to slay the Jabberwock. The poem then describes the son’s journey through the forest and the slaying of the beast. At the end of the poem the son returns home to his father carrying the head of the Jabberwock to prove he has indeed defeated the beast. The father is very happy, shouting “Calooh! Callay!” However, Carroll leads the reader to believe that another beast may come when he uses the same introductory quatrain at the beginning of the poem to close the poem. …show more content…
Carroll uses many poetic devices in Jabberwocky. He uses alliteration in line 6 with “the the claws that catch” and again in line 17, “One, two! One, two! And through and through”. He uses visual imagery in line 14 to describe the monster, “The Jabberwock with eyes of flame.” In line 18 he uses sensory imagery, “the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!” to describe the sound the blade made when the son cut off the head of the Jabberwock. With the use of some made up words by Carroll, the reader is able to somewhat visualize the son’s journey through the woods, but because of the ‘nonsense’ each reader may internally visualize the poem differently from the
McCaig gives the reader a graphic description of the dwarf in both stanzas 1 and 3 where he uses many littery techniques to describe the dwarf. In stanza 1 he uses alliteration, simile and metaphor to give the reader a graphic view of the dwarfs deformed body:
The second stanza and third stanza tell how the woodchucks continue to destroy the garden because the cyanide gas was not successful. The speaker tells about the woodchucks taking over the vegetable patch and beheading the carrots. This drives the speaker crazy, therefore taking the violence to another level. The speaker pulls out a gun and puts the ...
The author uses diction in the passages to signify the effect of the author¡¯s meaning in story and often sway readers to interpret ideas in one way or another. The man in the story arrives to a ¡°[dry] desert¡± where he accosts an animal with ¡°long-range attack¡± and ¡°powerful fangs.¡± The author creates a perilous scene between the human and animal in order to show that satisfaction does not come from taking lives. With instincts of silence and distrust, both of them freeze in stillness like ¡°live wire.¡± In addition, the man is brought to the point where animal¡¯s ¡°tail twitched,¡± and ¡°the little tocsin sounded¡± and also he hears the ¡°little song of death.¡± With violence ready to occur, the man tries to protect himself and others with a hoe, for his and their safety from the Rattler. The author criticizes how humans should be ¡°obliged not to kill¡±, at least himself, as a human. The author portrays the story with diction and other important techniques, such as imagery, in order to influence the readers with his significant lesson.
In this poem called “Creatures” by the author Billy Collins there are three examples of figurative language helps convey the meaning that the author Billy Collins is conveying. The three examples of figurative language that the author Billy Collins uses are a metaphor, enjambment, and imagery. These three examples of figurative language help illustrate Billy Collins” theme in this poem called “Creatures” that he is writing because these three examples of figurative language help emphasize the theme of the poem. These three examples help emphasize this poem called “Creatures” meaning because it makes the theme of this poem have a deeper meaning. The theme of the author Billy Collins poem called “Creatures” is that the reader has to imagine
The speaker scans his surroundings, “muck, pond, ditch, residue”(5), spondee, stressed words, are used to show the typical image of a distracted dog. This is further emphasized in the enjambments and caesuras at the hyphens and colons, to express the unpredictable actions of the speaker. At the beginning the speaker includes rhetorical questions, to highlight the merry, short attention span, “Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attention seconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so” (1-2). The rhyme scheme is abba ccdd efef gh and often are slant rhymes which shows the dog is not as educated as a human. The vowel ‘o’ in “or else you’re off in some fog concerning/ --tomorrow”(9-10) is an assonance and “bow-wow…”(14), is onomatopoeia illustrates the dog howling and barking at his human.
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
The poem is told by the child’s view and everything is described in order for the reader to visualize what is happening. “The whiskey on your breath/Could make a small boy dizzy.”(1-2), Roethke starts off by describing the father through sense of smell instead of his facial features. Another use of imagery, “We romped until the pans/Slid from the kitchen shelf/My mother’s countenance/ Cold not unfrown itself.”(5-8), the kitchen is a mess and the mother only watches, providing no help. They “romped” until the pans fell, this creates an image of destruction because the dad is drunkenly moving through the kitchen and destroying everything. The mother only watches in despair and she had no power of the actions of the father. “The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle” (9-10), the battered knuckle means that the father is violent and giving a strong image of how the father is. Roethke uses amazing imagery in order to make sense of the story. He wants the reader to connect with him and to visualize what he is trying to
The beginning of the poem starts with a humorous tone. Kinnell begins his poem with a simile “snore like a bullhorn”, an “Irishman”, or playing “loud music” to express the idea of something that is really loud and noisy, but still cannot wake the son up as opposed to the child’s ability to wake up to “heavy breathing” and a “come-cry” (line1-7). The tone that the...
The ability of words to calm a child’s fears is shown in “A Barred Owl.” Additionally, the author conveys the idea that even though one may say everything is alright, what one makes up in one’s mind is often worse than reality. The rhyme scheme in “A Barred Owl” helps depict the simple and soothing tone of the poem. Not only the rhyme scheme but also the repetition of certain consonants and sounds such as, “the warping night air having brought the boom / of an owl’s voice into her darkened room” help emphasize Wilbur’s i...
The first verse of this poem Terence friend is speaking to him about how sad all his poems are; all of them are about death. His friend is telling him he needs to lighten up and get drunk. His friend says, “It gives a chap the belly-ache. . .To hear such tunes as killed the cow”. Terence’s friend is referring to Terence’s poetry. He is also referring to his poetry that it killed the cow because it was so sad. These are both an example of a hyperbole (overstatement) that is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth. All the verses in this poem have a rhythm, which is any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound. The rhythm is eight beats per line.
Lawrence uses figurative language in order to present his ideas of societies expectations of a man. Lawrence changes the structure and style of “Snake” in order to highlight the struggles of the narrator. Specifically, when writing about the snake he uses repetitive and flowing words. He also uses traditional devices like alliteration, for example “and flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips.” The use of these technics gives the snake an almost human like feel that the reader can connect to. At the same time, Lawrence writes about the log used to hurt the snake in a different style creating such a contrast between the snake’s description and the log. The words describing the log are much different, “and threw it at the water trough with a clatter.” The changing styles helps emphasize the internal struggle the narrator is experiencing as he tries to figure out if he should do as society dictates and kill the snake like a man or do as he wishes and leave the snake in peace as his guest at the water
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.
First off, the stories come from different backgrounds, or more specifically, the authors. The author of the Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll, was born in England in 1832 and died in England in 1898, meaning he lived for about 66 years. Carroll suffered from a bad stammer, meaning he stuttered often while talking. However, he was fluent when talking to children,
The first stanza directly addresses the Tyger, which is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a large, carnivorous feline quadruped.” It sets up the theme of night, along with which comes darkness and evil. The third and fourth lines ask the first of many repetitive and, in a sense, unanswerable questions: what kind of creator has the ability to make something with such “fearful symmetry” (4)? The second stanza moves on to ask the same question in a different format, inquiring where the Tyger came from: heaven or hell. Starting in line 9, the speaker uses powerful imagery to ask again what God could create the Tyger. The diction portrays the Tyger as evil, with a “twist[ed]” heart (10). Lines 13-16 make up the fourth stanza and compare the creator to a blacksmith. Lines 19 and 20 ask two questions that are different from the rest: “Did he smile his work to see?/Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” These lines ask of the Tyger if his maker was happy to see what a monstrous being he had created, and if it was the same maker that made the pure and innocent Lamb. In a sense, t...
Lewis Carroll is widely known for his nonsensical writing style that is seen in all of his poems and stories. Carroll’s interest in literature started at a young age, and his love grew for writing as he got older. As Carroll began to embark on his adult life, after graduating college, his writings began to be published and noticed. Carroll’s most successful stories, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, were also produced during this time. “Jabberwocky,” a poem from Through the Looking Glass, tells the story of a boy going on a quest to slay a horrible beast. Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” is so famous and widely known for its ballad like stanzas and portmanteau word use, all of which make it so unique. Many critics such