<P> Though the poem contains many nonsensical words, English syntax and poetic forms are observed, such as the quatrain verses, the general ABAB rhyme scheme and the iambic meter . Linguist Peter Lucas believes the "nonsense" term is inaccurate . The poem relies on a distortion of sense rather than "non-sense", allowing the reader to infer meaning and therefore engage with narrative while lexical allusions swim under the surface of the poem . </P> <P> Marnie Parsons describes the work as a "semiotic catastrophe", arguing that the words create a discernible narrative within the structure of the poem, though the reader cannot know what they symbolise . She argues that Humpty tries, after the recitation, to "ground" the unruly multiplicities of meaning with definitions, but cannot succeed as both the book and the poem are playgrounds for the "carnivalised aspect of language". Parsons suggests that this is mirrored in the prosody of the poem: in the tussle between the tetrameter in the first three lines of each stanza and trimeter in the last lines, such that one undercuts the other and we are left off balance, like the poem's hero . </P> <P> Carroll wrote many poem parodies such as "Twinkle, twinkle little bat", "You Are Old, Father William" and "How Doth the Little Crocodile?" Some have become generally better known than the originals on which they are based, and this is certainly the case with "Jabberwocky". The poems' successes do not rely on any recognition or association of the poems that they parody . Lucas suggests that the original poems provide a strong container but Carroll's works are famous precisely because of their random, surreal quality . Carroll's grave playfulness has been compared with that of the poet Edward Lear; there are also parallels with the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins in the frequent use of soundplay, alliteration, created - language and portmanteau . Both writers were Carroll's contemporaries . </P> <P> "Jabberwocky" has been translated into numerous languages, as the novel has been translated into 65 languages . The translation might be difficult because the poem holds to English syntax and many of the principal words of the poem are invented . Translators have generally dealt with them by creating equivalent words of their own . Often these are similar in spelling or sound to Carroll's while respecting the morphology of the language they are being translated into . In Frank L. Warrin's French translation, "' Twas brillig" becomes "Il brilgue". In instances like this, both the original and the invented words echo actual words of Carroll's lexicon, but not necessarily ones with similar meanings . Translators have invented words which draw on root words with meanings similar to the English roots used by Carroll . Douglas Hofstadter noted in his essay "Translations of Jabberwocky", the word' slithy', for example, echoes the English' slimy',' slither',' slippery',' lithe' and' sly' . A French translation that uses' lubricilleux' for' slithy', evokes French words like' lubrifier' (to lubricate) to give an impression of a meaning similar to that of Carroll's word . In his exploration of the translation challenge, Hofstadter asks "what if a word does exist, but it is very intellectual - sounding and Latinate (' lubricilleux'), rather than earthy and Anglo - Saxon (' slithy')? Perhaps' huilasse' would be better than' lubricilleux'? Or does the Latin origin of the word' lubricilleux' not make itself felt to a speaker of French in the way that it would if it were an English word (' lubricilious', perhaps)? ". </P>

Which of the following statements is not true of lewis carroll's jabberwocky