jabberwocky


Jabberwocky is a famous poem authored by Lewis Carrol. The first version was published in Mischmasch, a magazine written both by and for the Carroll family, in 1855 when Carroll was 23. Titled "Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry,"

Twas Bryllyg, and ye slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogoves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe

The final version that is the most popular is included in alices-adventures-in-wonderland (or rather, Through the Looking Glass):

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 arm, 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.

What makes this interesting is it's property of telling a story with unknown words. Though we don't know the meaning of most of the words in this poem, we still can infer a lot about the story that is being told. This apparently means that a text is more then the sum of its parts - which is an important insight for natural language understanding!

For more information see this analysis.

edit-hint Which category does this fall under?