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What Is The Mood Of Jabberwocky

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A Jabberwock is a fictional beast which first appears in a poem in the novel “Through the Looking Glass.” The poem in that novel is in fact “Jabberwocky” written by Lewis Carroll. The poem itself is full of “jabberwocky,” which in the dictionary, is defined as nonsense or gibberish coined by Lewis Carroll himself. The speaker uses many literary devices throughout the poem, but there are three specific literary devices that have the most effect on the work. Those three are the diction, imagery, and rhyming. In this poem, Lewis Carroll paints the perfect picture of a dangerous, amazing creature and a beautifully strange land by using strong imagery, strange diction, and upbeat rhyming.
In the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, the speaker is …show more content…

The reader can see the Jabberwock for what it is, “The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame” (14). He is an angry, raging beast. Also the imagery helps set the atmosphere of the poem which is mostly tense throughout the poem where Carroll talks about the dangerous creatures and the boy getting ready to slay the great beast. Then you get to the end of the poem, where the mood changes into a lighter, happier mood. The imagery also helps the reader understand how the characters are feeling. For example, when the boy’s father sees his son coming back with the Jabberwock’s head, he is overjoyed, “Come to my arms my beamish boy!/ O frabjous day! Callooh, Callay!” (22-23). Here, the reader can sense the joy of the father when he sees his son with the Jabberwock’s head. They can also picture the happy reunion between them. Furthermore, the imagery can invoke multiple senses at the same time, such as the line, “The vorpal blade went snicker-snack” (18). Not only can the sword be heard, it can also be pictured cutting through the beast. The imagery makes this poem come to life, but not without the help of …show more content…

All of these literary devices give the poem a sing songy feel to it. This upbeat poem creates a story, including an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and a resolution. In the beginning of the poem, it starts off with a quiet description of the land where a father is telling his son about the dangerous beast, then the son goes off in search of the beast. The boy fights the beast, is welcomed home as a hero and everything is right in their world. Everything that would be in a novel is included in this short, 28 lined poem, which most poems do not have. In brief, all of the literary devices in this poem work off of each other to make this poem a whole in different ways. The strange diction is used throughout the work making the poem fun and somewhat easy to understand. The imagery is used to create the image of the horrible creature and the speaker’s depiction of it being slain. It is also used to help the reader visualize the land they are in. The rhyming is used through the poem as well, giving it an exciting and powerful tone. It is astonishing how well Carroll made such a moving and motivating tale in such a short poem while also creating a vivid and powerful mental

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