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
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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
Cullen uses auditory imagery to draw his readers in to hear what he hears. The meaning of this poem is to take the reader on a journey of what the negro felt about
Tone- Jabberwocky appears to have a somewhat humorous tone, considering the nonsensical words used, the brevity of the story, and lack of moral. There is no issue or theme addressed that can be applied as an allegory, unlike The Lorax. However, the entire story of the Lorax is rather darker and more applicable in real life, and the tone is both a call to action for the readers and also rather accusatory towards large factories and companies. However, the Jabberwocky appears to have no clear accusations or calls to action and is a vivid contrast to the dark tone of The Lorax. The Jabberwocky poem’s tone is rather ironic, because it presents a usually serious topic (Defeating a vicious beast) with nonsensical baby words, which makes the author’s intent rather humorous. The quote below showcases an action scene with these nonsense words, which changes the tone from serious too rather humorous.
In “A Barred Owl,” Wilbur constructs a singsong narrative of two stanzas with three couplets each. This arrangement provides a simple and steady rhythm that echoes the parents’ crooning to their child when she is frightened by “the boom / [o]f an owl’s voice” (1-2). A light-hearted tone is established when they “tell the wakened child that all she heard / [w]as an odd question from a forest bird” (3-4). The parents’ personification of the owl makes it less foreign and intimidating, and therefore alleviates the child’s worry. The interpretation of the hooting as a repetitive and absurd question — “Who cooks for you?” — further makes light of the situation (6). The second stanza introduces a more ominous tone by directly addressing the contrasting purposes words may serve given a speaker’s intention. While they “can make our terror bravely clear,” they “[c]an also thus domesticate a fear” (7-8). This juxtaposition is
The first stanza, which contains the son’s childish speech, is short, only three lines. However, by the stanza which contains the son’s angry talkback, the stanza is double in length, having four lines. Each line represents a literal level of maturity and growth that the son has gained. As time moves on, he is able to gain more and more experience in life. As his experience accumulates over time, so does his hostility. His terse, childish begging for his father to simply read another story turns to an angry speech about how he no longer beleievs in his father as an authority figure. Despite this, the son’s psyche changes back, as all this maturation is played out in the father’s head, and when he returns, he is back to his childish self, bu this stanza is the longest in the poem. This suggests that when someone is able to mature enough, they are able to comprehend more of the world than they did before, and are able to act
This explains, further, that the girl is no longer at a stage of innocence. She has been introduced to the fear and dread that surrounds her, that she was once oblivious too. The use of imagery throughout the poem also helps the reader gain a further insight to the underlying meaning. She uses imagery particularly well when the girl has experienced the bull. Lockheed uses the words ‘darkness’ & ‘roar’ to describe the bull in more detail. Although, this helps the reader create the image of the bull, the words also portray thoughts of the dread and panic the girl has over this new chapter
The imagery used throughout the poem is heavily sensual, we start with an intimation that the dog has lain dead for five days in the heat, the word `thick' being used to describe the summer heat and to hint at the smell which permeates the air later. The sound of flies is also used to give a sense of foreboding and oppression, he later returns to
Two distinct points of views can be seen in this poem, one is that of the father and then the son. The father's point of view is more common and used more than that of the son but both displays and add to the complexity of their relationship. From the father’s point of view, he shows his concern for disappointing his son by not coming up with great stories and losing his son as five years old matures which increases his anxiety as he sees the future approaching. The father fears of a fallout in the relationship with his son “...he thinks the boy will give up on his father”(9). The sons point of view
The poem begins with using “melodies” as an image. In the first phrase, “Like melodies draw it to me softly through the mind,” the word “melodies” seems to be symbolic of thoughts or memories. These melodies are like a tune that you cannot get out of your head, a memory that he is unable to forget.
In “A Barred Owl,” Wilbur adopts a playful tone through rhyming: “We tell the wakened child that all she heard/ Was an odd question from a forest bird” (3, 4). The rhyme imitates the style of nursery rhymes, creating a joking tone. The playful tone avoids seriousness and weakens the horror of the owl, which contributes to the poem’s style like a nursery rhyme. Wilbur also euphemizes the owl to help create a nursery style. He does not represent the horrible creature of an owl as a carnivore with sharp claws that hunts during the night, but euphemizes it as a “forest bird” (Wilbur 4). The owl’s representation as a safe forest bird refers its figure to the enthusiastic birds with heavenly sounds in cartoons and story books, which often help the protagonist to overcome difficulties and dangers. Referring to nursery imageries of birds, the euphemism contributes to the poem’s style as a nursery rhyme. Creating a playful tone and a nursery style, Wilbur uses rhymes and euphemism to “domesticate fear” (Wilbur
The imagery used in this verse appeals to the sense sight. This helps the reader visualise what the writer is taking about. It also allows the reader to relate and connect more to the poem.
The tone of the poem changes as the poem progresses. The poem begins with energetic language like “full of heroic tales” and “by a mere swing to his shoulder”. The composer also uses hyperboles like “My father began as a god” and “lifted me to heaven”. The use of this positive language indicates to the responder that the composer is longing for those days – he is nostalgic. It also highlights the perspective of a typical child. The language used in the middle of the poem is highly critical of his father: “A foolish small old man”. This highlights the perspective of a typical teenager and signifies that they have generally conflicting views. The language used in the last section of the poem is more loving and emotional than the rest: “...revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. This draws attention to a mature adult’s perspective.
One thing the two stories have in common is the way the word usage affects the story. In both The Jabberwocky and the Lorax, they use words to help the reader depict what is happening. One example from the Lorax would be, “‘I am the Lorax,’ he coughed and he whiffed He sneezed and he snuffed,” (Seuss ln. 10-11). In this quote he uses words such as whiffed and snuffled to show the reader that he is having a hard time breathing. This shows that the word usage in this story affects how the reader interprets different
Repetition is another key poetic device used in the poem, and considering its effect on the reader gives insight as to what the speaker may be emphasizing as significant. The word “dread” is repeated several times throughout the poem, specifically in lines 12 and 15. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “feared greatly…dreadful, terrible.” Because this word is used so many times, it draws the reader’s attention and contributes even more to the imagery of the Tyger. The repetition of the first stanza forms a sort of introduction and conclusion. The few differences between them get the reader’s attention and point out significant ideas that go along with the meaning of the poem. The comma in line 21 shows hesitation, and the colon in line 22 commands the attention of the Tyger as the speaker
To elaborate, the reader can not truly hear what is taking place in the poem, but does get a sense of being able to hear what they are reading. For instance when the speaker says “While his gills were breathing in” (22), the reader can almost hear the fish breathing. The speaker again stimulates the auditory senses when she says “and a fine black thread, / still crimped from the strain and snap” (58-59). Again the reader can virtually hear the sound of the line snapping. The next aspect of imagery that needs to be examined is the sensory imagery. An excellent example of sensory imagery is found when reading the lines “It was more like the tipping, / of an object toward light” (43-44). These lines can give an almost unbalanced feeling to the reader as they conceptualize these words. Imagery is not the only important element used in this poem. As stated earlier, irony is an important component involved in “The Fish”.
4. The whole poem has an apostrophe. The Jabberwock is a metaphor for the despair of having to continually count meters and create rhyme. Since the despair cannot do that itself, Carroll created a personification by turning despair into the Jabberwock.