The "Jabberwocky" is a classic nonsense poem composed by Lewis Carroll for his book "Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There." Many of these nonsense words are portmanteaus - two words combined to make a third word. For instance, the word "slithy" is a combination of words "slimy" and "lithe." The word "mimsy" is a combination of "flimsy" and "miserable." For more information and ideas for classroom discussion, see "The Annotated Alice" by Martin Gardner. 'When Sir John Tenniel originally created the illustration of the Jabberwock monster, it was deemed to frightening for children to be placed at the front of the book, so it was moved to the section of the book where the ballad actually takes place. The background music for this reading is "Sarabande" originally composed by Handel, and modernized by the instrumental rock band Escala.