A lesson on poetry and language

Lisa Napell Dicksteen

• Scheduled to be delivered September 26, 2005, as introduction to poetry section and use of phonetic pronunciation guides for English 10-Honors.

OBJECTIVES:

• To teach the use of phonetic pronunciation guides for unfamiliar words.
• To awaken students to the use of metaphor in literature.
• To explain the concept of the portmanteau word.
• To show students that what seems like “nonsense” can have profound meaning.
• To connect Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky with other epics already read in class.

CONTENT:

• Elements of poetry, literature, mythology, philosophy, and psychology.
• Plums, a poem by William Carlos Williams.
• Jabberwocky, a poem by Lewis Carroll.
• Explanation of IPA, portmanteau, mock-heroic, the epic structure of “separation-initiation-return,” and “transformation.”

MATERIALS:

• Transparency with DO NOW written out.
• Transparency of Plums in IPA and standard modern English (on same page, with standard text side covered).
• Copy of charts with IPA and phonetics symbols and examples for each student.
• Copy of Jabberwocky for each student.
• Copy of portmanteau definition and example sheet for each student.
• My own knowledge, life experience, enthusiasm, and creativity.

PROCEDURE:

• DO NOW:

“Using the IPA and AHD pronunciation guides you received when you entered the room, please sound-out and write-out the words of the poem below in every-day, standard-text English. You may work in pairs if you like, but please be quiet enough that you don’t disturb your neighbors. You have five minutes. And, yes, all the words in the poem really are standard, recognizable, every-day English words that you already know.

If your seat is nearer the windows, please begin with line #1. If your seat is nearer the door, please begin with line #7.

• As students enter room, hand out IPA and AHD guides, leave extras beside late pass sign-in book.

A lesson on poetry & language by Lisa Napell Dicksteen, page 2 of 2

• Briefly discuss use of IPA to transcribe language and dialect, and use of guides such as the AHD (found in the front of most dictionaries) to help pronounce unfamiliar or unusual words.
• Ask students to volunteer to try to read poem aloud from whatever they have accomplished on their own. Complete whatever’s not done as a class.
• Uncover transparency and have students read standard-text English lines aloud.
• Hand out copies of Jabberwocky, mentioning that many authorities on poetry consider it a “nonsense” poem.
• Read poem aloud to class, asking students to circle any words with which they are not familiar as they follow along.
• Have students define words for each other whenever possible, have volunteers use dictionary as needed.
• When first portmanteau word comes up, explain Carroll’s concept/creation of them, and hand out copies of definitions and examples.
• Ask students to consider anything in the content of the poem that seems familiar. Prompt with questions:
• Who are the major characters? (father, son, Jabberwock)
• What is the setting? (woods)
• Is there a plot? (yes)
• What is it? (venture out of safety of home, slay dragon, return home victorious)
• Explain idea of mock-heroic tale and that this poem is written in the form of a ballad.
• Identify concepts of “separation-initiation-return” and subsequent “transformation” in literature and life.
• Have students draw inferences as to how “separation-initiation-return” and subsequent “transformation” pertain to the hero of this poem, adolescents in general, Gilgamesh, Arjuna, Christ, everyone.
• Ask students to reconsider whether this is really a “nonsense poem” after all.

DO NOW:

Using the IPA and AHD pronunciation guides you received when you entered the room, please sound-out and write-out the words of the poem below in every-day, standard-text English.

You may work in pairs if you like, but please be quiet enough that you don’t disturb your neighbors.

You have five minutes.

And, yes, all the words in the poem really are standard, recognizable, every-day English words that you already know.

§ If your seat is nearer the windows, please begin with line #1.

§ If your seat is nearer the door, please begin with line #7.

1	/ðɪs ɪz ĵəst tu se	This is just to say
2	aɪ hæv itən (or it'n)	I have eaten
3	ðə pləmz	the plums
4	ðæt wər ɪn	that were in
5	ðə aɪsbɑks	the icebox
6	ænd wɪĉ	and which
7	ju wər prabəbli	you were probably
8	sevɪŋ for brɛkfəst.	saving for breakfast.
9	forgɪv mi	Forgive me
10	ðe wər dəlɪŝəs	they were delicious
11	so swit	so sweet
12	ænd so kold./	and so cold.
13	/Wɪlyəm Karlos Wɪlyəmz/	William Carlos Williams

What is IPA?

The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is a set of symbols used to represent the distinct sounds of any language, using only one symbol per sound. (When written out, individual symbols or words are set between / /, to avoid confusion with standard letters of the alphabet.)

COMMON VOWEL SOUNDS AS EXPRESSED IN IPA:

SYMBOL	PRONOUNCED AS IN…
/i/	keyed
/ɪ/	kid
/e/	shade
/ɛ/	ked
/æ/	cad
/ә/	but or sofa
/ɑ/	cod
/u/	cooed
/ʊ/	could
/o/	code
/ɔ/	cawed
/ɑɪ/	buy
/ɑʊ/	bough
/ɔɪ/	boy

COMMON CONSONANT SOUNDS AS EXPRESSED IN IPA:

No consonant symbols are duplicated, except /l/, /m/, and /r/.

Bill /bil/	S Sill /šil/	Dill /dil/	Yell /jεl/	Fill /fil/	Chill /čil/	Gill /gil/
Hill /hil/	Thin /Өin/	Jill /jil/	Mill /mil/	Kill /kil/	Lil /lil/	Village /vilәĵ/
Rill /ril/	Nil /nil/	Sill /sil/	Pill /pil/	Till /til/	Will /wil/	Zillion /ziljon/
They’ll /ðe’l/	Measure /mεžur/ or /mεžәr/			Mesher /mεšur/

PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

PRONOUNCED AS IN…	SYMBOL	PRONOUNCED AS IN…	SYMBOL
pat	ă	noise	oi
pay	ā	took	ŏ
care	âr	lid, needle	l (nēd'l)
father	ä	mum	m
bib	b	no, sudden	n (sŭd'n)
church	ch	thing	ng
deed, milled	d	pot	ŏ
pet	ĕ	sauce	s
bee	ē	butter	Ər
fife, phase, rough	f	ship, dish	sh
gag	g	tight, stopped	t
hat	h	thin	th
which	hw	this	th
pit	ĭ	cut	ŭ
pie, by	ī	urge, term, firm, word, heard	ûr
pier	îr	valve	v
judge	j	with	w
kick, cat, pique	k	yes	y
toe	ō	zebra, xylem	z
caught, paw, for, horrid, hoarse	ô	vision, pleasure, garage	zh
		about, item, edible, gallop, circus	Ə

Although similar, the symbols used in the American Heritage Dictionary pronunciation guide (AHD) and those used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are not precisely the same. I have included both charts because some may find one easier to use than the other.

The pronunciation information on these pages comes from www.dictionary.com, which uses the American Heritage Dictionary as its pronunciation resource.

Jabberwocky

By Lewis Carroll

’Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsey were the borogroves,

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 Bansersnatch!”

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 thou hast slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, 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 mimsey were the borogroves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

A JABBERWOCKY GLOSSARY

There are two main sources for the meanings of Lewis Carroll’s famous made-up words.

§ One is Carroll himself, who created a glossary to explain some of the unfamiliar words.

§ The other is Humpty Dumpty, whom Alice meets in Chapter Six of The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and who provides explanations of some of the words—not all of which are the same as Carroll’s earlier, private explanations.

Word	Lewis Carroll's Explanation	Humpty Dumpty's Explanation
BEAMISH	A variant of beaming.
BOROGOVES Commonly mispronounced as "borogroves." the first “o” is pronounced like the “o” in worry, and there is no second “r” at all.	Borogove. An extinct kind of parrot. They had no wings, their beaks turned up, they made their nests under sundials, and they lived on veal.	A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round— something like a live mop.
BRILLIG	Derived from the verb to bryl or broil. The time of broiling dinner; the close of the afternoon.	Four o'clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.
CALLOOH/CALLAY	Two forms of the Greek word “kalos,” meaning beautiful or good, are pronounced “callooh” and “callay.”
CHORTLED	A combination of chuckle and snort.
FRUMIOUS	A combination of fuming and furious.
GALUMPHING	A combination of gallop and triumphant.
GIMBLE	Gymble (whence gimblet). To screw out holes in anything. Also, the pivoted rings used to keep a ships’ compass level as the ship rolls.	To make holes like a gimblet.
GYRE	Gyre, verb (derived from gyaour or giaour, 'a dog'). To scratch like a dog.	To go round and round like a gyroscope.
MIMSY	Mimsy (whence mimserable and miserable.) A nonsense word meaning unhappy.	Flimsy and miserable.
MOME	Most experts think it's short for “from home” —meaning that they'd lost their way, but both Carroll and Dumpty are silent on it, so no one really knows.
OUTGRABE	Something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of a sneeze in the middle.	Outgrabing is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle.
RATHS		A rath is a sort of green pig.

A Jabberwocky Glossary, page 2 of 2

SLITHY	A combination of slimy and lithe; smooth and active. Also, a variant of “sleathy,” meaning slovenly.	Lithe and slimy. Lithe is the same as active. It's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.
SNICKERSNACK	“Snickersnee” means to “fight with a knife,” (and snickersnack sounds to me like the sound that a knife might make during such a fight.)
TOVE According to The Hunting Of The Snark, toves rhymes with groves.	Tove, a species of badger. They had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag; lived chiefly on cheese.	Something like lizards and something like corkscrews. …They make their nests under sundials—also they live on cheese.
TUMTUM	This was a common phrase in Carroll’s time. It is the sound of a stringed instrument being strummed monotonously.
UFFISH	Carroll wrote to a childhood friend that this word suggested “a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish.”
WABE	Derived from the verb to swab or soak. The side of a hill, from its being soaked by the rain.	The grass plot round a sundial ... because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it ... and a long way beyond it on each side. (In this case, the explanation was made with some assistance from Alice.)

AN INTERESTING NOTE:

According to one of a series of private little publications that young Carroll wrote, illustrated, and hand-lettered for the amusement of his siblings, the “curious fragment” of “a stanza of Anglo-Saxon poetry” that goes like this:

“'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.”

Which he claimed to have “discovered,” but which, of course, he wrote himself, was translated (by him) into literal, modern-day-English as:

“It was evening, and the smooth active badgers

Were scratching and boring holes in the hill-side;

All unhappy were the parrots,

And the grave turtles squeaked out.”

Glossary information “borrowed” from various sources, including:

The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner, More Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner, www.creativityforyou.com, www.wikpedia.com, www.dictionary.com.