In case this comes as a surprise to any of you, I am extremely childish and sort of insane. Because of this, and for sentimental reasons, my most prized possession is my copy of The Annotated Alice. It's simply my favorite belonging. Because of this, I feel like I just have to discuss Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

Here is a piece by piece breakdown of just the opening stanza. Enjoy!

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Sounds like a whole lot of nonsense, doesn't it? Thankfully, Lewis Carroll provided the definition of quite a few key words, and old English provided the rest.

First, I'd like to note that toves, borogroves, and raths are all different creatures. Using definitions provided by Lewis Carroll, we can determine a little bit about each creature.

Tove- According to Carroll, a tove was a species of badger. They had smooth white hair, back legs that are abnormally long, and short little horns similar to a deer's. Their diet consisted primarily of cheese.

Borogrove- Although they're extinct now, they were a sort of parrot. They had no wings, turned-up beaks, and made nests under sundials. They ate only veal.

Rath- Species of land turtle. Had a mouth like a shark, a smooth green body, a head that stood erect, and legs that curved out so that the animal walked on it's knees. Ate mostly swallows and oysters.

Well thank you, Mr.Carroll, for creating weird new creatures to add to my vocabulary.

From what I can gather, the literal translation using definitions provided, is as follows.

"It was late in the afternoon, and the sleek active badgers were scratching and digging holes in the side of the hill; all unhappy were the parrots; and the grave turtles squeaked out."

So, that makes a little more sense, doesn't it? But I'm not here to translate things, I want to break this down! What exactly is happening and why?

Although I've seen many interpretatios, my guess is that the raths and the borogroves made their nests on the hill. This probably means that there were sundials on the top of the hill, in case that interests you.

The borogroves were unhappy, and the raths squeaked out gravely because of the toves scratching and digging into the side of their hill. They were probably afraid that the holes dug by the toves would undermine their nests and cause them to collapse.

When you look at it through the author's eyes, there was actually a point to this weird opening. Although nearly impossible to decipher without the proper tools, it makes sense.

And thus, the nonsense of the Jabberwocky can be interpreted. Why don't you guys read the literal translation and tell me what you think he was saying.

That's it for now, see you all next time.

-Liz