- Sir John Tenniel’s illustration of Lewis Carroll’s poem ‘Jabberwocky’, from _Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There_, 1872. Found on Wikipedia Commons.
Every year, after my husband and I do the taxes, we reward ourselves and the family with an outing using some of the refund money. It has to be something everyone agrees on, so this time it was to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. [Trust me, taking a family of 6 out to see a movie these days is not an inexpensive outing anymore. Even to a matinee...] I highly enjoyed it. Being a visual person, I really had fun watching all the visual ‘tip of the hat’ things that Burton did in reference to Lewis Carroll’s original – including the connections between Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations and the movie characterizations. Think of Alice’s battle with the Jabberwock, especially how it was shown on the scroll [hopefully this doesn't spoil anything for anybody], and look at the original illustration by Tenniel.
And there were, of course, numerous references to the original poem, and not just the Mad Hatter’s partial recitation of it. The original poem is thus:
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
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 whiffling 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.
-”Jabberwocky”, by Lewis Carroll, from Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, 1872.
Great great great fun. A bit too dark for really little kids, though my youngest (who is in third grade but granted, loves Goosebumps books and ghost stories) was fine. We all had a ball though!
Click on the picture to see it/download it full-sized.
Peace, and Happy Frabjous Day!
Bekka
Tags: .jpg, 1872, Alice in Wonderland, armor, armour, bw, daily public domain, DPD, free, graphics, illustration, Jabberwock, Jabberwocky, knight, Lewis Carroll, line drawing, medieval, monster, PD, public domain, Sir John Tenniel, sword, Through the Looking Glass, Tim Burton, Victorian, Wiki Commons, Wikipedia
Card Positioning Systems – Card Sketches
Card Sketch a Day
Get Sketchy!
Operation Write Home