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Chock · 28 October 2009, 09:42 AM

As you might know,

Edward Mannock was a keen wordsmith and orator, despite his having had a quite modest education. That was something which he made up for by being an avid reader. He composed quite a few entertaining poems for the amusement of fellow squadron members, and here's one that doesn't get seen too often. It is of course a parody of Lewis Carroll's wonderful 1870s nonsense verse, Jabberwocky from Alice Through the Looking Glass, and you can see that Mannock himself is quite clever at weaving pseudo literary portmanteaus from aircraft names, nicknames and even military parlance, much of which shows an excellent understanding of Carroll's literary cleverness. Being that Mannock was also apparently quite a decent violin player, I think his understanding of the musical meter of the Carroll's original comes across well too:

You can see the original Carroll version here, for comparison:

Jabberwocky

Al

28 October 2009, 09:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
Chock Scout Pilot Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The grim north of England Posts: 405	Mannock's poetry As you might know, Edward Mannock was a keen wordsmith and orator, despite his having had a quite modest education. That was something which he made up for by being an avid reader. He composed quite a few entertaining poems for the amusement of fellow squadron members, and here's one that doesn't get seen too often. It is of course a parody of Lewis Carroll's wonderful 1870s nonsense verse, Jabberwocky from Alice Through the Looking Glass, and you can see that Mannock himself is quite clever at weaving pseudo literary portmanteaus from aircraft names, nicknames and even military parlance, much of which shows an excellent understanding of Carroll's literary cleverness. Being that Mannock was also apparently quite a decent violin player, I think his understanding of the musical meter of the Carroll's original comes across well too: You can see the original Carroll version here, for comparison: Jabberwocky Al __________________ Wiseman: When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words? Ash: Yeah, basically. Wiseman: Did you speak the exact words? Ash: Look, maybe I didn't say every single little tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah.