SEND MP3s: Your version of “Jabberwocky”
LibriVox offers 34 different renditions of “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll.
Anyone like to give it a try? It’s in the public domain. This is the land of creatures/monsters/things, of Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, and Mothman, isn’t it? I’d think “Jabberwocky” would be popular here.
To listen (click here) … some dramatic and some not so… and see if you can best them. Many of them are well-done, but everyone has their own twist. Click my e-mail link here to e-mail your mp3s to me.
Or call me at (304) 348-5184, let it ring through to the voice mail, and read away.
Leave your name and not-to-be-published number.
Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll
‘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 a while 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 arms, my beamish boy!
Oh 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.
_________
This poem is fun and wild. There have even been orchestral versions and dance ensemble productions of “Jabberwocky.”
A few years ago, WVU students presented a movement performance called “Jabberwocky,” choreographed by Jessica Morgan, a theater professor.
Enjoy.
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Don’t forget my recent post — MOUNTAINWORD: Send poems.
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NOTEWORTHY NEW BOOK:
Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry From the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W. Norton)
from Amazon’s editorial reviews:
“A landmark anthology, providing the most ambitious, far-reaching collection of contemporary Asian and Middle Eastern poetry available.
“Language for a New Century celebrates the artistic and cultural forces flourishing today in the East, bringing together an unprecedented selection of works by South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian poets as well as poets living in the Diaspora. Some poets, such as Bei Dao and Mahmoud Darwish, are acclaimed worldwide, but many more will be new to the reader. The collection includes 400 unique voices—political and apolitical, monastic and erotic—that represent a wider artistic movement that challenges thousand-year-old traditions, broadening our notion of contemporary literature.
“Each section of the anthology—organized by theme rather than by national affiliation—is preceded by a personal essay from the editors that introduces the poetry and exhorts readers to examine their own identities in light of these powerful poems. In an age of violence and terrorism, often predicated by cultural ignorance, this anthology is a bold declaration of shared humanity and devotion to the transformative power of art.”
