SUNDAY REVIEW / O FRABJOUS DAY! CALLOOH! CALLAY!

The Jabberwocky/By Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wade;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree.
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

This poem is in public domain.
Note: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) was a British clergyman, photographer, mathematician, artist and is best known for writing “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass”; “The Hunting of the Snark” and the “Jabberwocky” under his pen name: Lewis Carroll. The Jabberwocky was penned in 1871. The photograph here is by Dodgson taken in 1858 of his neighbor Alice Liddell. Dodgson was a British pioneer in portrait photography. Of his recorded 3,000 images taken only about 1,000 remain.

SUNDAY REVIEW—A new online literary review appearing exclusively on Pillar to Post (www.tomshess.blogspot.com).