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Just as “Jabberwocky” approximates traditional ballad meter, it also approximates the rhyme scheme typically associated with ballads. Typically, ballads consist of quatrains that each follow a regular ABCB rhyme scheme, though sometimes they make use of an alternative ABAB rhyme scheme. “Jabberwocky” makes use of both schemes. Out of the seven stanzas that make up “Jabberwocky,” three stanzas feature the ABCB rhyme scheme, and the remaining four use ABAB. Although the rhymes do give the overall impression of ballad form, the shifting scheme creates a subtle sense of instability within that form, as if drawing attention to the fabricated nature of the heroic narrative being recounted. In addition to the oscillation between different end-rhyme schemes, the speaker occasionally uses internal rhyme. Three lines in particular (lines 11, 17, and 19) feature internal rhyme:

     So rested he by the Tumtum tree

     One, two! One, two! And through and through

     He left it dead, and with its head

In each of these cases, the use of internal rhyme occurs in lines of iambic tetrameter, and the rhymes fall on the second and last metrical foot. This regular spacing creates a sing-song effect that recalls nursery rhymes for children. The childish sound of these rhymes helps draw attention to the poem’s mock-serious tone.

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