save_the _endangered_anim wrote:
THanks, Shapu! Question: About the Jabberwocky, does that have any literary devices? Like similes, metaphors, etc?
Similies are easy to pick out: look for "like" and "as."
Example: "She floats like a butterfly on the dance floor" is a similie.
Metaphors are substitution-based comparisons: "She was a butterfly on the dance floor."
To recap: If something is
like something, it's a similie. If something
is something, it's a metaphor.
Jabberwocky is interesting not for similies and metaphors, but because it contains an
allegory, which is a type of metaphor. Metaphors can change meaning based on who reads the thing ("She was a butterfly on the dance floor" can mean that she floated, or that she was tiny and colorful, or both, or neither). Allegories are metaphors with constant meanings.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an allegory for Christ. Anyone who reads it will instantly recognize the death to save others and the divine rebirth as based directly on the New Testament. Same with
Matrix: Reloaded and
Matrix: Revolutions with respect to Neo.
There's also a lot of imagery in the poem. It's nearly impossible to understand because Carroll made up all sorts of fun words. But it's there, and when you realize that much of it is auditory, it becomes a more immersive poem.
There's repetition, too, on multiple levels; phrases are repeated, and one stanza serves as a bookmark (here's a qood question: Why did Carroll repeat the first stanza at the end?).
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She won't let me use Jabberwocky now because she wants to read it out loud.... Thanks anyway!
