Editing Jabberwocky (section)

==Reception==
According to Chesterton and Green and others, the original purpose of "Jabberwocky" was to satirise both pretentious verse and ignorant literary critics. It was designed as verse showing how not to write verse, but eventually became the subject of pedestrian translation or explanation and incorporated into classroom learning.<ref>Green, Roger Lancelyn (1970) ''The Lewis Carroll Handbook'', "Jabberwocky, and other parodies" : Dawson of Pall Mall, London</ref> It has also been interpreted as a parody of contemporary Oxford scholarship and specifically the story of how [[Benjamin Jowett]], the notoriously agnostic Professor of Greek at Oxford, and Master of [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]], came to sign the ''[[Thirty-Nine Articles]]'', as an Anglican statement of faith, to save his job.<ref>Prickett, Stephen (2005) ''Victorian Fantasy'' Baylor University Press p113 {{ISBN|1-932792-30-9}}</ref> The transformation of audience perception from satire to seriousness was in a large part predicted by [[G. K. Chesterton]], who wrote in 1932, "Poor, poor, little Alice! She has not only been caught and made to do lessons; she has been forced to inflict lessons on others."<ref>[[G. K. Chesterton|Chesterton, G. K]] (1953) "Lewis Carroll" in ''A Handful of Authors'', ed. Dorothy Collins, Sheed and Ward, London</ref>

It is often now cited as one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English,<ref name="NCTE" /><ref name="Gardner" /> the source for countless parodies and tributes. In most cases the writers have changed the nonsense words into words relating to the parodied subject, as in [[Frank Jacobs]]'s "If Lewis Carroll Were a Hollywood Press Agent in the Thirties" in ''Mad for Better or Verse''.<ref>Jacobs, Frank (1968) ''Mad, for better or verse'' N.A.L</ref> Other writers use the poem as a form, much like a [[sonnet]], and create their own words for it as in "Strunklemiss" by [[Shay K. Azoulay]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smylesandfish.com/lounge/the-canon.php?strunklemiss=1|title=Strunklemiss|work=smylesandfish.com}}</ref> or the poem "Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" recited by [[Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz]] in [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', a 1979 book which contains numerous other references and homages to Carroll's work.<ref name="Cyberspace">{{cite web|author=Robert McFarlane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.douglasadams |title="Lewis Carroll in cyberspace" ''Guardian'' 12 August 2001 |work=The Guardian|date=12 August 2001 |access-date=2018-10-03}}</ref>

{{blockquote|<poem>
Oh freddled gruntbuggly thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
Groop I implore thee my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my
blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!<ref Name="Cyberspace"/><ref>"Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly" by [[Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz]]. In Adams, Douglas (1988) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Pocket Books p65 {{ISBN|0-671-74606-5}}</ref>
</poem>}}

Some of the words that Carroll created, such as "[[wikt:chortle|chortled]]" and "[[wikt:galumphing|galumphing]]", have entered the English language and are listed in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. The word "[[wikt:jabberwocky|jabberwocky]]" itself has come to refer to nonsense language.

In American Sign Language, Eric Malzkuhn invented the sign for "chortled".  It unintentionally caught on and became a part of American Sign Language's lexicon as well.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sorensonvrs.com/ericm |title=Eric Malzkuhn – March 2016 – Sorenson VRS |website=sorensonvrs.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529230953/http://www.sorensonvrs.com/ericm |archive-date=29 May 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>