Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes

807 Words4 Pages
Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes was written during the classicism period on a satire ton. This poem was written by Thomas Gray. In this poem we face the death of this cat but from his own perspective on the world. The poem is composed of 7 stanzas with 6 lines each. In the first Stanza Gray uses a metaphor to make us understand that the poem is set from the cat’s perspective : « Gazed on the lake below. » The lake refers to a « vase » but since cats are smaller than humans the cat sees it as a huge plans of water. On the third stanza, instead of the word « lake » he uses the word « tide » and then the word « stream ». Thomas Gray used alliterations to emphasize certain aspects of the poem. "...fair round face » ; « golden gleam…" are two examples of this. The cat wishes to catches fishes located in the vase, when he looks in the water he finally sees them, Thomas Gray uses a metaphor to describe the two fishes : « Two angels forms were seen to glide » It is like the cat has seen the less common and the most beautiful object in the world. Since a fish is hard to catch Gray used the metaphor « The genii of the stream » In the fourth Stanza the « hapless nymph » decides to grab the « prize ». The cat is afraid because for him the vase is huge, Gray compares it with a gulf : « Nor he knew the gulf between ». Then the cat slipped into the water « The slippery verge her feet beguiled ». The sixth stanza explains to us the death of the cat, the line « Eight times emerging from the flood » means that the cat died eight times before, because a cat is supposed to have 9 lives. « Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard. » During the eighteenth century Tom and Susan were generally the names of household servants who should be around to come to the cat’s help, and yet in fact are not, This implies the relationship and feelings the servants

More about Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes

Open Document