Nonsense Poems · Funny
Chapter I
by Lewis Carroll · 1871
’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 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.
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“Chapter I” by Lewis Carroll — quilloak.com/poems/jabberwocky
Quick facts
- Poem
- Chapter I
- Poet
- Lewis Carroll
- Published
- 1871
- Length
- 28 lines
- Form
- Nonsense Poems, Ballad
- Themes
- Funny, For Kids
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 28 lines · 7 quatrains
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
- Refrains
- “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves”“All mimsy were the borogoves,”“And the mome raths outgrabe.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Lewis Carroll1832–1898
- Source record
- WikisourceChapter I by lewis-carroll, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1871
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 fdf6ff302fd3dc4b…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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