Diction In Jabberwocky

Lewis Carroll utilizes vivid imagery and ‘nonsense’ diction in “Jabberwocky” to produce an epic fairytale, climaxing with the slaying of the Jabberwock. The speaker is an unknown third person, who we can assume is detached from the events in the poem. In the poem, there are only two characters that we know of, a father and son, in addition to an array of creatures that inhabit this mystical reality—such as the “Jubjub bird” and the “Bandersnatch.” The Jabberwock is a frightening beast who is the central aspect of the poem and the source of the main conflict. The boy is on a quest to slay the Jabberwock for a reason that the reader is unaware of. This poem dramatizes the suspenseful conflict between the boy and the Jabberwock, which may be indicative

“Jabberwocky” is comprised of a great deal of ‘nonsense’ language that initially seems to have insignificant meaning. However, with close reading, it is easier to dissect the senseless diction using the knowledge of existing English words. There is an unfavorable feeling to the poem in the first three stanzas, which could be a result of the cacophonic sound of words like bite, claw, catch, and even Jabberwock. The harsh tone dramatizes the heightened sense of being uneasy. The manipulated language emphasizes how a word will sound in place of the literal meaning. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!” is the first hint to the reader that the Jabberwock is a true menace (Line 5). “The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!” is an example of onomatopoeia with the word vorpal and snicker-snack, while snicker-snack is also an example of consonance (Line 18). Assonance is also present in “Jabberwocky” with “He took his vorpal sword in hand; /Long time the manxome foe he sought” (Lines 9-10). Vorpal sword and manxome foe both have the repeated vowel sound, in addition to gimble and mimsy from the first stanza. Also in the first stanza, there are two portmanteau words—slithy, meaning lithe and slimy, and mimsy which is miserable and