# How to correctly recite Jabberwocky **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299 "2013-04-10T06:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/1 "2013-04-10T06:22:19Z")
Where can I hear _Jabberwocky_ the way it was intended to be read? I need to recite it for an audience next month, and even though I’ve done so several times in the past, I’ve always just guessed at the correct pronunciations, cadence, meter, and rhythm of the poem. This time I want to recite it _exactly_ as a professional orator would have read it when it was written. Where can I find a YouTube or other video demonstrating how to do this? ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/2 "2013-04-10T07:38:27Z")
Don’t ovethink it. While you stand in uffish thought, the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, will come whiffling through the tulgey wood. Sometimes you just gotta go snicker-snack with your vorpal blade, through and through. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/3 "2013-04-10T07:59:45Z")
[Like this.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGCJFFxoHJ4) IMHO, the Jabberwocky should not be recited seriously. The Jabberwocky should be recited drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/4 "2013-04-10T08:59:55Z")
Or this: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czUZ16fxjqM) or this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7rpCUZXLuck/hqdefault.jpg "Alice In Wonderland (1983) - Jabberwocky") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rpCUZXLuck) or this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Y6Qcv9e3JCI/hqdefault.jpg "Lewis Carroll "Jabberwocky" Poem animation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Qcv9e3JCI) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/5 "2013-04-10T11:31:13Z")
In chapter 6 Humpty Dumpy explains the poem to Alice, giving pretty strong indication of how most of the words should be pronounced. Example: [QUOTE=Humpty Dumpty] To “GYRE” is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To “GIMBLE” is to make holes like a gimlet. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/6 "2013-04-10T12:02:13Z")
See also [Carroll’s own pronunciation guide](http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/pronunciation.html), which appeared in the preface to “The Hunting of the Snark.” > [@](#): > > As this poem [“The Hunting Of The Snark”] is to some extent connected with the lay of the Jabberwock, let me take this opportunity of answering a question that has often been asked me, how to pronounce “slithy toves”. The “i” in “slithy” is long, as in “writhe”; and “toves” is pronounced so as to rhyme with “groves”. Again, the first “o” in “borogoves” is pronounced like the “o” in “borrow”. I have heard people try to give it the sound of the “o” in “worry”. Such is Human Perversity. > > This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words in that poem. Humpty Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. > > For instance, take the two words “fuming” and “furious”. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards “fuming”, you will say “fuming-furious”; if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards “furious”, you will say “furious-fuming”; but if you have that rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say “frumious”. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/7 "2013-04-10T12:09:02Z")
**Desi Arnez** did a hilarious reading of it (with his thick accent) on an old, \*old \*(season 1) episode of **SNL**. Of course, like every thing NBC owns, it’s not on YouTube, only Hulu (subscription)… ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/8 "2013-04-10T12:09:35Z")
Recite the Jabberwock, my son! The words that fleen, the rhymes that glack, Enjoy the parafluvium Of thoughts beyond all sense, alack! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/9 "2013-04-10T12:36:43Z")
It should be read as straight and serious as “Hiawatha” but with an evident mad gleam in the eye. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/10 "2013-04-10T13:40:36Z")
I have been, uh, fortunate enough to hear it recited backwards. (Word order, not letter order.) It was done in a very straightforward manner, with emphasis put as any good recital should have, but, yes, an evident mad gleam in the eye. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/11 "2013-04-10T14:22:49Z")
Isn’t the poem loved for the words Lewis Carroll used/made up - he did so for their sound and the rhythm the words have when said together. A word like “galumphing” - I mean, it practically reads itself! 😉 Don’t overthink it - read it for the fun, word-wonderful poem it was meant to be! ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/12 "2013-04-10T14:56:08Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Sometimes you just gotta go snicker-snack with your vorpal blade, through and through. Last time I took my vorpal sword in hand in front of an audience, the bail was three month’s pay. I’m not going to make _that_ mistake again. > [@Alessan](#): > > The Jabberwocky should be recited drunk. See above. > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > **Desi Arnez** did a hilarious reading of it (with his thick accent) on an old, \*old \*(season 1) episode of **SNL**. Of course, like every thing NBC owns, it’s not on YouTube, only Hulu (subscription)… God, I remember that! I must have been about 15 years old. So it’s still floating around out there in the aether somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/13 "2013-04-10T17:22:55Z")
My internal Hypotheticam[sup]TM[/sup] just treated me to a vision of Christopher Walken reciting _Jabberwocky_. It was wonderful and terrible, like most things Walken, and I wish I could share it with you. Perhaps I should [request it](http://speakcelebrity.tumblr.com/). ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/14 "2013-04-10T17:37:38Z")
I memorized _Jabberwocky_ when I was 8, never understood why my dad always wanted me to recite it for his friends, maybe it was the mad gleam in my eye? Anyway, it is now 32 years later and I can still pull it out of the memory banks. The mind is a mysterious thing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/15 "2013-04-10T17:39:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [Like this.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGCJFFxoHJ4) Not only do I agree, but I have used this video when teaching the poem. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/16 "2013-04-10T17:39:49Z")
To start with, the poem’s in iambic tetrameter. Follow that for the cadence, and that’ll do half the work for you. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/17 "2013-04-10T20:27:19Z")
Slithy, IMHO is pronounced sly-thee Gyre is guy-urr gimble is gim (as in gimme) -bull wabe is way-bee mim rhymes with gim mome is mow me…get it? O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ He chortled in his joy. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/18 "2013-04-10T20:53:02Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Slithy, IMHO is pronounced sly-thee > Gyre is guy-urr > gimble is gim (as in gimme) -bull > wabe is way-bee > mim rhymes with gim > mome is mow me…get it? > > O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ > He chortled in his joy. That’s why you need to read chapter six of Looking-glass. Gyre is pronounced with a soft g, like in gyroscope. Wabe rhymes with outgrabe. The E is silent. “Way-be” wouldn’t fit the meter, anyway. Each stanza is 8.8.8.6. Humpty thinks (but is not certain) that mome is short for “from home”. Between that and the fact that an extra syllable would screw up the meter, it has to rhyme with “home”. Slithy, gimble, and mimsy do fit Humpty’s explanation. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/19 "2013-04-10T20:57:54Z")
I recited _Jabberwocky_ for an audition to an acting camp once that required a dramatic monologue and a comedic monologue. When I finished, I was asked if I understood the difference between a comedic monologue and a humorous poem. I assured them that I did and reeled off half a dozen comedic monologues I’d considered and rejected as being inferior in comedic chops to _Jabberwocky_. I got in. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/20 "2013-04-10T21:04:57Z")
This remarkable bit of poetry can be sung to the tune of _Greensleeves_, and I have done so to the amusement of others. The hard or soft ‘g’ in ‘gyre’ is always a problem with me. I pronounce it wrong, apparently. So it goes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299.md?page=2)