Jabberwocky & Dr. Seuss: A Lesson in Nonsense

For the uninitiated, "Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse found in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.  As Alice is conversing with the White King and White Queen (chess pieces) she finds a book in seemingly unintelligible language.  Realizing that she's traveling through an inverted world, she holds a mirror to the poem and reads the reflected verse of "Jabberwocky" which to her disappointment still makes little sense.

 "Jabberwocky"

'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.

”

from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872).

'It seems very pretty,' she said when she had finished it, 'but it's rather hard to understand!' (You see she didn't like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) 'Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate' (Carroll, Lewis (2010) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass pp 64–65 Createspace ltd ISBN 1-4505-7761-X)

The concept of nonsense verse was not new to Carroll. Nonsense verse existed in Shakespeare's work as well as the brothers Grimm's fairytales. Shakespeare, in fact, is well-known for coining many new words.  Martin Gardner (The Annotatted Alice:  The Definitive Edition.  NY Norton & Company, 1999), however,  wrote that "Few would dispute that Jabberwocky is the greatest of all nonsense poems in English."

Dr. Seuss  was also a genius with nonsense words as he invited kids to explore parallel worlds, language, and morality!!!!

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities. Dr. Seuss US author & illustrator (1904 - 1991)

The genius and fun of nonsense verse is that while many of the words are nonce words (words invented to meet a need that is not expected - often for a particular occasion), the syntax and poetic forms are observed (as you can tell the poem is written in ABAB rhyme scheme and iambic meter). The rhythm and sound of the words make this somewhat scary poem a lot of fun to read and 'feels' solvable.

Nonce words are often used to study the development of language in children. They enable researchers to investigate kids' understanding of morphemes, prefixes, suffixes, and syntax (grammar, sentence structure).  Jean Berko developed the "Wug test" (1958) to observe and better understand the acquisition of the 'plural' in English-speaking children:

"This is a wug.  Now there are two of them.  There are two.....?"

The point is that creating nonce or nonsense words in verse is FUN while being an excellent exercise in language, sentence structure and comprehension. This is particularly important as kids are developing vocabulary and comprehension skills.  So often, when they come to words they can't read or don't quite recognize, readers can use context to help them.  This is the power of playing with nonsense words.  By understanding how the location of a word in a sentence can tell readers if it is an action, a name, a description can help them better figure out its meaning.  Nonsense can be used to teach kids the power of context, rhyme, alliteration, and sentence structure. It also makes language learning more fun and less intimidating.

Instructional Ideas:

• Jabberwocky: 
• Ask your kids to act out the lines.  
• Ask them what the words mean.  
• Ask them to supply their own words to help explain the verse.

• Dr. Seuss' ABC's - While Jabberwocky can be used and read with older kids, this is ideal for younger ones. It teaches the alphabet and letter sounds and it plays with language in an engaging, enticing manner.  Here are some instructional ideas:
• Ask your child what the nonsense might mean (the illustrations will help too).
• Come up with your own version of this book full of alliteration and nonsense words.

Here is a YouTube clip of the book read in Jamaican Patois:

• And of course there's Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.  Below is an older animated version.  
• Listen / read this together.  Make a list of the nonsense words.
• Can you identify what they mean in isolation when reading the list?  What about when you read them in the book.  Why?
• Come up with your own definitions of the words.  Insert them into the story and read it again.  Is it as much fun to read?  Why/why not?
• Talk about the value of using nonsense words and HOW masters like Dr. Seuss use them so masterfully.

Language learning should be meaningful and fun.  I can't think of a better way to teach sense, than using nonsense!  What do you think?