Compare and Contrast the Ways Monsters Are Presented in Lewis Carroll's 'the Jabbereocky' and Alfred Lord Tennyson's 'the Kraken'
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- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 03/03/2014 07:18 AM
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Carroll and Tennyson’s portrayal of their monsters can be compared and contrasted through their use of structure, language and imagery.
An immediate contrast can be drawn between the linguistics of both poems. Carroll’s ‘The Jabberwocky’ is a nonsense poem that features many words that Carroll created such as ‘borogroves’. By creating new words the reader is able to draw their own interpretation of the strange world Carroll has written about. Moreover, Carroll has also blended words together to create new words entirely, this use of portmanteau could imply that there are no pre-existing words that could even begin to convey the ideas Carroll was putting forward. In stark contrast, Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’ has a very formal tone. Furthermore, ‘The Kraken’ has the qualities of a Petrarchan sonnet apart from the fact it has 15 lines, not 14, and the last verse has 12 syllables as opposed to 10. However, this could be interpreted as highly significant. The last verse breaks tradition, the tradition of a typical sonnet and the tradition of the Kraken remaining in the depths of the abyss ‘In roaring he shall rise’(Muldoon, 1998, p. 139).
Tennyson creates strong images in ‘The Kraken’ a theme of isolation runs throughout, ‘His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep’ (Muldoon, 1998, p. 139). The use of words such as ‘swell’, ‘huge’ and ‘millennial’ create an image of something extremely large. However, this is in comparison to the Kraken, therefore making the Kraken appear smaller. Furthermore, when Tennyson says ‘There hath he lain for ages and will lie’ (Muldoon, 1998, p. 139) he appears almost sympathetic towards the Kraken. This links back to ‘The Kraken’ being almost a sonnet. Moreover, a religious reference is made in verse 13 ‘Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;’ (Muldoon, 1998, p. 139) this seems to be referring to Judgement day; it could be argued that this disturbance interrupted the Krakens sleep causing him to rise. Similar to this, The ‘Jabberwocky’...
An immediate contrast can be drawn between the linguistics of both poems. Carroll’s ‘The Jabberwocky’ is a nonsense poem that features many words that Carroll created such as ‘borogroves’. By creating new words the reader is able to draw their own interpretation of the strange world Carroll has written about. Moreover, Carroll has also blended words together to create new words entirely, this use of portmanteau could imply that there are no pre-existing words that could even begin to convey the ideas Carroll was putting forward. In stark contrast, Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’ has a very formal tone. Furthermore, ‘The Kraken’ has the qualities of a Petrarchan sonnet apart from the fact it has 15 lines, not 14, and the last verse has 12 syllables as opposed to 10. However, this could be interpreted as highly significant. The last verse breaks tradition, the tradition of a typical sonnet and the tradition of the Kraken remaining in the depths of the abyss ‘In roaring he shall rise’(Muldoon, 1998, p. 139).
Tennyson creates strong images in ‘The Kraken’ a theme of isolation runs throughout, ‘His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep’ (Muldoon, 1998, p. 139). The use of words such as ‘swell’, ‘huge’ and ‘millennial’ create an image of something extremely large. However, this is in comparison to the Kraken, therefore making the Kraken appear smaller. Furthermore, when Tennyson says ‘There hath he lain for ages and will lie’ (Muldoon, 1998, p. 139) he appears almost sympathetic towards the Kraken. This links back to ‘The Kraken’ being almost a sonnet. Moreover, a religious reference is made in verse 13 ‘Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;’ (Muldoon, 1998, p. 139) this seems to be referring to Judgement day; it could be argued that this disturbance interrupted the Krakens sleep causing him to rise. Similar to this, The ‘Jabberwocky’...