So, what does it all mean?  You have just experienced "Nonsense Poetry."  There are several famous nonsense poets, such as Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, Roald Dahl and of course Lewis Carroll.  Carroll made up nonsence words by mixing regular words together; believe it or not some of his made up words are now in the dictionary!  Chortle is one of the words coined by Lewis Carroll.  It is a mix of "chuckle" and "snort."  Yes, you may think that Chortle is one of the Pokemon, and if you do, you need to stop watching television and pick up a good book this instant!  Lewis Carrol came first, and the classics are always best.

You may be asking yourself what the Jabberwocky poem is about?  It is probably not what you think, unless you happen to be someone in the Lewis Carrol society who is very well-read, or you are a super-genius who just understands things very easily.  The poem is about a child who takes his toy sword out into the back yard to fight imaginary monsters.  What 4 or 5 year old boy hasn't played that game?  The story is told by the child's father.  Nowadays, children are more likely to pretend they are Power Rangers fighting the evil Zorg, but the principle is still the same.  Children will always be children, and little boys will always pretend to be knights fighting dragons.

The child's father probably made the "Vorpal Sword" out of scrap wood at his garage workbench.  I seem to remember my father making me a toy sword, and a rubber-band gun too.  Heh heh.  After the little boy slays the Jabberwock, he probably ran back to his daddy shouting in joy:  "Look look!  I killed the dragon!  See, daddy?  Here is his head!" and held up an imaginary head, or perhaps the head of his sister's recently-decapitated Barbie.  (Boys will be boys.)

As any good parent would, the father joins the game of pretend and "sees" the icky-pretend-bleeding-monster-head and says, "And hast thou slain the Jaberwock!  Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"  And he gives the kid a hug.  Aw...

So that's what the poem is about; a little boy playing pretend in the back yard.  Why do I say the story takes place in the back yard?  Lewis Carrol himself gave a few definitions for his nonsence words.  Namely that the Slithy Toves are little animals that look strikingly similar to hedgehogs, and a "wabe" is that patch of grass surrounding a sun dial.  Lewis Carroll used to play such games in his own back yard, to entertain his many younger sisters, and I'm sure they amused themselves by watching the hedgehogs roll around the back yard lawn.

Twas brillig