Nonsense

Lewis Carroll was a master of nonsense verse. Here is one of the most memorable poems and also one of my favorites.

The Jabberwocky

from Through the Looking Glass

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898 )

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

Allmimsy were the borogoves,

And 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 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 eood,

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.

A Little Dabble

Hello. This is Autumn and I Rock. I never said I rocked at Halo...but I can and do rock at other things.

I decided my blog really isn't going to consist of any day to day habits of mine, or anything really having to do with anything else. I am a mythology geek...and an english geek...and a literature geek. SO, I think I will just waste my blog space giving you all a little dabble into some of my favorite pieces, either when I come across them or as I remember them. I may even throw in a good story I would recommend reading! ENJOY! Now, how can I write my very first blog and not start with Ovid's description of Chaos!?!

From Metamorphoses

Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E.--17 C.E.)

Translation by John Dryden

Of bodies chang'd to various forms, I sing:

Ye Gods, from whom these miracles did spring,

Inspire my numbers with celestial heat;

Till I my long laborious work compleat:

And add perpetual tenour to my rhimes,

Deduc'd from Nature's birth, to Caesar's times.

Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball,

And Heav'n's high canopy, that covers all,

Once was the face of Nature; if a face:

Rather a rude and indigested mass:

A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,

Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos named.

No sun was lighted up, the world to view;

No moon did yet her blunted horns renew:

Nor yet was Earth suspended in the sky,

Nor pois'd, did on her own foundations lye:

Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown;

But earth, and air, and water, were in one.

Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable,

And water's dark abyss unnavigable.

No certain formonany was imprest;

All were confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest.

For hot and cold were in one body fixt;

And soft with hard, and light with heavy mixt.