national poetry month {april 1, 2022}

National Poetry Month

In April 1996, the Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month to remind the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets, marking poetry's important place in our lives. 

Today is April Fools' Day so how about a nonsense poem to celebrate the day...Lewis Carrol's "Jabberwocky."

’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 awhile 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!

O 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.

''Jabberwocky'' is a nonsense poem because most of its words are made up. You can't use a dictionary, or anything else, to tell you what 'brillig' is or give you a picture of 'slithy toves. You have to use your imagination and context clues.

Courage, love, and good versus evil are the major themes of the poem. The poem revolves around the heroic victory of the boy who risks his life to kill Jabberwocky. Although his father warns him about the evil creature, the boy musters up the courage to eradicate evil from the world.

Poetry is important because it helps us understand and appreciate the world around us. Poetry’s strength lies in its ability to shed a “sideways” light on the world, so the truth sneaks up on you. Poetry teaches us how to live. Poetry is like the Windex on a grubby car window—it bares open the vulnerabilities of human beings so we can all relate to each other a little better.