Wednesday Words

Let me put this right out there: I think it’s cheating to make up words in order to have the rhyme and meter of poetry work. Take, for instance, the poem “Jabberwocky” in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. There are enough nonsense syllables in this poem to force one to believe at least six impossible things before breakfast!

Sure, Humpty Dumpty does do some translating for Alice (“ ‘Brillig’ means four o’clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.”), but still: Lewis Carroll made these words up to make the poem into poetry. Cheating.

Oh, but what poetry this is. This cheat gets a free pass because “Jabberwocky” is pure magic! It’s melodic and flowing, fun to read and recite, and still tells an adventure story. And while the words are made up, they adequately evoke picture, sound and emotion, even without explanation. In fact, I liked reading this without translation and explanation. It’s more fun to imagine what it all means for myself.

And by the way, isn’t snicker-snack just the best onomatopoeia ever?!

 

There’s a list of these made-up words at this Wikipedia page for the poem “Jabberwocky.”

 

Coming soon: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

 

A Year of Books I’ve Read Before