Two Original Poems: "Welcome to Flunderland" and "Strangeness"

"Welcome To FlunderLand"

Welcome! Welcome, To FlunderLand!

Would you like a tour? Would you like a tour?

You would! Good!

Please follow me

We’re about to start.

A seat for you with your name in black.

On your right! On your right!

You’ll see the dangerous Butter Tree.

Its butter is priceless. Its butter good.

But try to steal it will cut you in two.

So Careful, Careful don’t go near.

On your left! On your left!

Are the fearful Trimplets.

They’re furry and brown and have tiny eyes

Unless they’re flashed unless they’re photographed.

They’ll turn into monsters six feet tall

And devour you whole.

Careful, Careful please don’t take pics.

Look up! Look Up!

You’ll see a Kitnip eating a sour puss,

Drinking it with a cup of tea.

Careful, Careful don’t lean out,

Or it’ll serve you with a slice of butter.

Look down! Look down!

And you’ll see a rare creature.

A whining whale dining on wine

While its baby bops and drops.

Careful, Careful don’t reach down to far

Or you’ll get invited to a tea party and never come back.

Goodbye! Goodbye!

Hope you enjoyed our tour.

We do apologize to those who died

But our only rebuttal

Is that you ignored our cautions

So Goodbye!

"Strangeness"

Who is this person, sitting near me?

He’s wearing a parka made of hemp!

He’s wearing his hair in very tight braids!

HE’S WEARING A DRESS!

A DRESS!

Such strangeness! Such strangeness I find here.

In the land of the Chaotic. In the land of the Free.

Nothing exists in my land that is this strange.

How can it be? How can it exist?

Such strangeness! Such strangeness I find here.

Yet, this strangeness appeals me.

The Meaning Behind Nonsense Words: An Explication of The "Jabberwocky" (Final Version)

In Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” nonsense words are used to create meaning through the placement and the words that are near them. Although the “Jabberwocky” is a nonsense poem there are more regular words nonsense words. Words such as gyre, gimble, mimsy, Bandersnatch and galumphing are few of the words that make up the poem and help to describe a character’s behavior, the condition of objects and to bring to life to fantastical creatures. Carroll’s choice of using nonsense words to describe the atmosphere, tone and state of being of character and places in the “Jabberwocky” illustrate how the English Language allows for words that did not previously exist to be born and to create meaning out of the context that they are born out of.

             Within the seven stanzas of the “Jabberwocky” there are nonsense words that are built into the lines that create tension through the connotation that we apply to each of the nonsense words based on our prior experience and through our sub-conscience knowledge of American English grammar. According to D Bruce Lockerbie connotation is defined as, “the figurative sense, the suggested application of a word”: However he also describes connotation as assuming “the experience of the reader, either his actual or his imaginative experience” to inform the reader of the definition of a word (691). If both definitions are applied to the nonsense words of the “Jabberwocky” we can surmise that nonsense words are not in reality nonsense, but actual words that hold meaning behind them. For example, the following lines contain three nonsense words that to the average reader might not make sense, “Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!/ He chortled in his joy” (23-34). “Frabjous”, “Callooh”, and “Callay” are a word that at first appear to be nonsense, however because of the context they are in and the connotation that they have it gives them meaning. Callooh and Callay are words that have a celebratory connotation because of their placement in the line. They also have the same property that of the words/expression Hooray and hip hip hoora because they have the same nature and the same property as them. Thus the reader can make the assumption that the word Callooh and Callay have the same meaning as Hooray and Hip Hip Hoora.  Furthermore the second line, which states the father chortled in joy, cements our assumption, as the definition of chortled is to chuckle gleefully. The word, “”frabjous”, has a part of its word that sounds like joyous, making it sound to the reader’s ear as joyful and happy. Also a reader’s previous experience will tell the readers how to read the nonsense words.

            The opening and closing stanza are the same and they serve the function of bringing the poem full circle as well as giving a new connotation to the same stanza. According to James Rother constructing nonsense words “is [a] almost always a solemn business, maintaining the strictest of controls over both its inference and its effect” (187). Thus the opening lines, “’Twas brillig and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:” and “All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgrabe” can serve as the opening and closing because it meaning can change based on how the plot has ended (1-4). The first two lines tell the reader what time of day it is because the way the lines are structured. By looking at the word “‘twas” the reader can see that the word brillig is a state of being, in this case it indicates a time of day. The path taken to figure out the meaning behind Brillig can also be applied to outgrabe, wabe gyre and gimble. Where the words gyre and gimble are describing a state of being to the word wabe, which is the object, the state of being is being applied to. Line four of the poem, “And the mome raths outgrabe”, make the opening stanza a lot more interesting because according to dictionary.com mome is defined as a fool: blockhead: rath as growing, blooming, or ripening early in the year or season (dictionary.com). Because of these definitions the reader can assume that the poem takes place during the spring when the pollen count is high. However when the poem ends with the same stanza the son has already killed the Jabberwocky and the stanza now describes the state of being of the place. It is interesting to note that even after the jabberwocky has been killed the atmosphere remains the same as if nothing had changed.

            The rhyme scheme is something else that contributes to the poem as it starts out in a “a b a b” rhyme it is broken by the time the reader reaches the fifth stanza because that brake in the rhyme scheme follows the chaotic atmosphere that is describes the fifth and sixth stanza. The word choice of the first three stanzas creates an ominous feeling to the poem as the speaker warns his or her son “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/ The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” (5-6). The words jaw, bite, claw catch have a harsh sound to it and create a tension and uneasiness when its being read. The combination of these words plus the word beware also set up the plot of the story, but the tension that is created is not much and it is not so blunt. However in the fourth stanza the tone of the poem changes into a more dark tone. The shift of tone is reflected again the word choice of the poem: “with eyes of flame”, “Came whiffling”, and “and burbled as it came” (2-3). . The images that the word choice creates a sense of fear and danger that in turn creates tension and makes the story more interesting to the reader. In both stanza, however there is still a rhyme scheme that can be seen as soon as the son starts to battle the Jobberwock the rhyme scheme is broken and is not restored until the final stanza. The ending of each of the lines in the fifth and sixth stanza are, “through/ snicker-snack!/ head/ back/ Jabberwock/ boy/ Callay!/ joy” (17-24). None of these words rhyme because the break of the rhyme scheme in this section of the poem follows the action that is being described in the both stanzas. By doing this it feels more chaotic and is more in line with the movements of a fight.

Nonsense poems have words that at first may not appear to have meaning, but if they are analyzed and closely read you can find that those nonsense words have meaning and because of the meaning they contain different interpretations can arise from a single nonsense word.

Work Cited

Dictionary.com. “Mome”. Dictionary.com. Web. 03 February 2014.

Dictionary.com. “Rathe”. Dictionary.com. Web. 04 February 2014.

Lockerbie, D Bruce. Poetry: “Denotation and Connotation”. Jstor. The English Journal

Vol. 53, No. 9 Dec. 1964. P691. Web. 05 February 4, 2014.

Rother, James. “Modernism and the Nonsense Style”. Jstor. Contemporary Literature,

Vol. 15, No.2 (Spring 1974). Print 06 February 2014

A Quick Look At Intertextuality In The Media

Intertextuality is when a text uses (an) idea(s)/concept(s) established by another text and redevelops it for its own purpose, but still keeps those ideas, concepts, images, forms, and structure at the base of its content. In other words the original text and new text are conversation with each other. The conversation that takes place between the texts is usually the text making comments/analyzing the original's text concepts and ideas. Intertextuality can also be allied the media and to other art forms. The most common form of Intertextuality in the media is when a book is adapted into a film or tv show. When a book is adapted into a film or tv show the basic plot, concepts, and ideas are kept while the format and structure may not. One example of this is The Hunger Game Series, where the books are in first person and gets to inside Katness' mind and see the internal struggles she has with her feelings for Peeta. While in the film the first person is dropped in favor of a third person narrative even though the film follows Katniss' experience. Even though it follows Katniss' experience , the internal dialogue/internal struggles gets cut down to how well the actress can portray those feelings. Some argue that the actress that plays Katniss does a good job and some argue that she doesn't. Intertextuality can be applied to varies art forms, of literature, of media and even to theory.

-Osiel Rodriguez  

An Explication of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" [Rough Draft]

In Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” the poet uses nonsense words to create meaning through the context of the poem and through the words that are near the nonsense words. Such words as gyre, gimble, mimsy, Bandersnatch and galumphing are few of the words that Carroll uses to describe character’s behavior, the condition of objects and to give name to the fantastical creatures he creates. Carroll’s choice of creating nonsense words to fill a meaning he wanted to illustrate because of the lack of words that fit his needs shows that the English language is very flexible as well as new forms and new styles of poetry are formed each day.

            Seven stanzas make up the structure of the “Jabberwocky”: each of the stanzas builds up the tension through the use of the nonsense words and the connotation/feelings that they bring up on the reader. According to Dr. Bruce Lockerbie, “Connotation assumes the experience of the reader, either his actual or his imaginative experience” and he also gives a standard dictionary definition, “Connotation: the figurative sense, the suggested application of a word” (691).  Both of the definitions provided by Lockerbie help explain how Carroll creates tension using nonsense words. For example, the lines, “Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!/ He chortled in his joy” (ll 23-34). The words “frabjous”, “Callooh”, and “Callay” are nonsense words that are not normally found in the English dictionary, however we can assume by the connotation that they are a way of expressing joy and cheer. Furthermore the second line, which states the father chortled in joy, cements our assumption, as the definition of chortled is to chuckle gleefully. Another piece of evidence that cements the idea that these words are a way of expressing joy is because the word, “”frabjous”, has a part of its word that sounds like joyous. A reader’s previous experience will tell him or her that frabjous, Callooh and Callay are of celebratory nature.

            The opening and closing stanza are the same and they serve the function of bringing the poem full circle as well as giving a new connotation to the same stanza. The first stanza opens up with, “’Twas brillig and the slithy toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:” and it is followed by “All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgrabe” (1-4). The first two lines tell the reader what time of day it s because of the use of the word ‘Twas brillig” as well as the conditions of the day through the words slithy, outgrabe and wabe. The definition of brillig can be found by looking at the “‘twas” which is used to describe a state of being, e.g. “Twas the night before Christmas”. In the example the state of being that is described is that of the night. We then can conclude that brillig is a state of being. This reasoning can be applied as well to the words outgrabe, wabe gyre and gimble. Where the words gyre and gimble are describing a state of being. Line four of the poem, “And the mome raths outgrabe”, make the opening stanza a lot more interesting because according to dictionary.com mome is defined as a fool; blockhead and rath as growing, blooming, or ripening early in the year or season (dictionary.com). Because of these definitions the reader can assume that the poem takes place during the spring when the pollen count is high. However when the poem ends with the same stanza the son has already killed the Jabberwocky and the stanza now describes the state of being of the place. It is interesting to note that even after the jabberwocky has been killed the atmosphere remains the same as if nothing had changed.

            The rhyme scheme is something else that contributes to the poem as it starts out in a “a b a b” rhyme it is broken by the time the reader reaches the fifth stanza because that brake in the rhyme scheme follows the chaotic atmosphere that is describes the fifth and sixth stanza. The word choice of the first three stanzas creates an ominous feeling to the poem as the speaker warns his or her son “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/ The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” (5-6). The words jaw, bite, claw catch have a harsh sound to it and create a tension and uneasiness when its being read. The combination of these words plus the word beware also set up the plot of the story, but the tension that is created is not much and it is not so blunt. However in the fourth stanza the tone of the poem changes into a more dark tone. The shift of tone is reflected again the word choice of the poem: “with eyes of flame”, “Came whiffling”, and “and burbled as it came” (2-3). . The images that the word choice creates a sense of fear and danger that in turn creates tension and makes the story more interesting to the reader. In both stanza, however there is still a rhyme scheme that can be seen as soon as the son starts to battle the Jobberwock the rhyme scheme is broken and is not restored until the final stanza. The ending of each of the lines in the fifth and sixth stanza are, “through/ snicker-snack!/ head/ back/ Jabberwock/ boy/ Callay!/ joy” (17-24). None of these words rhyme because the break of the rhyme scheme in this section of the poem follows the action that is being described in the both stanzas. By doing this it feels more chaotic and is more in line with the movements of a fight.

Nonsense poems have words that at first may not appear to have meaning, but if they are analyzed and closely read you can find that those nonsense words have meaning and because of the meaning they contain different interpretations can arise from a single nonsense word.

Work Cited

Lockerbie, D Bruce. Poetry: “Denotation and Connotation”. Jstor. The English Journal

Vol. 53, Vol. 9 Dec. 1964. P691. Web. 05 February 4, 2014.

Dictionary.com. “Mome”. Dictionary.com. Web. 03 February 2014.

Dictionary.com. “Rathe”. Dictionary.com. Web. 04 February 2014.

A Cento Vs. A Found Poem: A Quick Comparison

A Cento Poem, according to Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms by Babette Deutsch, is a patchwork poem made up of scraps from various sources. Also Cento is a Latin word that signifies a garment made of patches. And A Found poem, according to www.poets.org, is a poem that takes existing texts and refashions them, reorders them, and presents them as poems. Also a pure found poem consists exclusively of outsides texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with a few additions or omission. The decisions of form are left up to the poet. If both definitions are examined it can be seen that there is little to no different between A Cento and A Found Poem. Both types of poems are created using previously existing text and the structure/form is left up to the poet. The conclusion that I have come up with is that they are the same type of poem, but Cento is an older way of labeling a found poem. I came to this conclusion because the way both of the definitions are same similar and have almost no difference plus I have never heard someone refer to a Found Poem as a Cento.

-Osiel Rodriguez