Engels | Jabberwocky van Lewis Carroll

Op vele momenten bij Engels kan Lewis Carroll naar voren komen. In de achtste klas leer je lange gedichten uit je hoofd, bij voorbeeld Jabberwocky (maar dat is dan wel érg moeilijk).

Het verhaal van Alice inWonderland kan al eerder voorgelezen zijn, maar in hogere klassen kun je er steeds meer van genieten, en ook voor volwassenen is er nog veel in te ontdekken...

(meer over het leerplan Engels)

LEWIS CARROLL (1832-1898)

1     'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

2         Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

3     All mimsy were the borogoves,

4         And the mome raths outgrabe.

5     "Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

6         The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

7     Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

8         The frumious Bandersnatch!"

9     He took his vorpal sword in hand:

10       Long time the manxome foe he sought --

11   So rested he by the Tumtum tree.

12       And stood awhile in thought.

13   And as in uffish thought he stood,

14       The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

15   Came wiffling through the tulgey wood,

16       And burbled as it came!

17   One, two! One, two! And through and through

18       The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

19   He left it dead, and with its head

20       He went galumphing back.

21   "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

22       Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

23   O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

24       He chortled in his joy.

25   'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

26       Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

27   All mimsy were the borogoves,

28       And the mome raths outgrabe.

   
"It seems very pretty," she said when she

had finished it, "but it's rather hard to under­

stand!" (You see she didn't like to confess, even

to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.)

"Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas

-- only I don't exactly know what they are!

However, somebody killed something: that's clear,

at any rate --"

.... [pp. 126-29]     "You seem very clever at explaining words,

Sir," said Alice. "Would you kindly tell me the

meaning of the poem called `Jabberwocky'?"

    "Let's hear it," said Humpty Dumpty. "I

can explain all the poems that ever were in­

vented -- and a good many that haven't been

invented just yet."

    This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated

the first verse:

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe."

    "That's enough to begin with," Humpty

Dumpty interrupted; "there are plenty of hard

words there. `Brillig' means four o'clock in the

afternoon -- the time when you begin broiling

things for dinner."

    "That'll do very well," said Alice; "and

`slithy'?"

   "Well, `slithy' means `lithe and slimy.'

`Lithe' is the same as `active.' You see it's

like a portmanteau -- there are two meanings

packed up into one word."

   "I see it now," Alice remarked thoughtfully:

"and what are `toves'?"

    "Well, `toves' are something like badgers --

they're something like lizards -- and they're

something like corkscrews."

    "They must be very curious-looking creatures."

    "They are that," said Humpty Dumpty:

"also they make their nests under sun-dials --

also they live on cheese."

    "And what's to `gyre' and to `gimble'?"

    "To `gyre' is to go round and round like

a gyroscope. To `gimble' is to make holes like

a gimlet."

    "And `the wabe' is the grass-plot round a

sundial, I suppose?" said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.

   "Of course it is. It's called `wabe,' you

know, because it goes a long way before it,

and a long way behind it -- --"

    "And a long way beyond it on each side,"

added Alice.

    "Exactly so. Well, then, `mimsy' is `flimsy and miser­

able' (there's another portmanteau for

you). And a borogove is a thin, shabby-looking

bird with its feathers sticking out all round --

something like a live mop."

    "And then `mome raths'?" said Alice.

"I'm afraid I'm giving you a great deal of trouble."

    "Well, a `rath' is a sort of green pig: but

`mome' I'm not certain about. I think it's

short for `from home' -- meaning that they'd

lost their way, you know."

    "And what does `outgrabe' mean?"

    "Well, `outgribing' is something between

bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze

in the middle: however, you'll hear it done

maybe -- down in the wood yonder -- and

when you've once heard it you'll be quite

content. Who's been repeating all that hard

stuff to you?"

Jabberwocky Variations