Tom Cat Alliteration

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This essay is about comparing Don Marquis’s poem; “The Tom-Cat” and Ted Hughes’s poem “Esther’s Tom-Cat”. Both poems have effective techniques used throughout that I will explore and discuss. Both poems also have their own individual and unique rhythms and interesting characters for example the ruthless and evil cats themselves, which share similarities and some differences. In Don Marquis poem “The Tom Cat” there is many poetic techniques that add different effects that add different effects throughout the poem, one of which comes up quite often in the poem are powerful verbs. These add more effect and are less boring and more vivid than regular verbs. An example of this actively in the poem would be ‘He twists and crouches and capers’.…show more content…
These are extremely important in such a poem as the “The Tom-Cat” as they emphasise on many of the aspects of the cat; how it moves, its appearance, the atmosphere of the poem, all of these adding effect and sometimes tension and create a vivid picture in the mind of the reader. Verses like “As he swings his snaky tail” and “Malovent, bony, brindled”, are key examples of the writer using alliteration in the poem as well as a sibilant to add more tension and effect, to build up the atmosphere of the poem, to use a simple sibilant in such a way it make the poem itself sound aggressive and vicious. The way Don Marquis has fitted in all this affect the flow of the poem in its regular beat, pendulum-like rhythm and the clever use of rhyme. The metaphors used in the poem are just as effectively used in the poem as the other poetic techniques. Here are examples of many of the brilliant metaphors used throughout the poem; “His eyes are coals from the middle of Hell” and “And his heart is black and hard” are some very colourful examples of metaphors as they relate the tom cat to the devil and say he is some sort of demon with his snaky tail, brute yellow eyes that are from the blazing fires of hell, and his black coal heart and they also create an even more definite scene of the tom-cat’s appearance, the atmosphere of the scene and the character of the…show more content…
For example the first stanza “Daylong this tom-cat lies stretched” has the cat in a house or in someplace lying flat on a mat whereas in the last stanza “Among ash cans. He leaps and lightly” he is among bins and over rooftops free to do as it pleases; these verses from the poem also show that the cat is manipulative and sly, during the day a sleepy domestic cat and during the knight a sly cruel and active cat. Also the writer uses powerful verbs, metaphors and simile’s to describe the movement and appearance of the Tom-Cat. For example “A tomcat sprang at a mounted knight” shows the use of a powerful verb ‘Sprang’ and also shows that the cat is vicious and somewhat brave, attacking a large mounted knight and show that the cat is ruthless as well mercilessly killing the knight by surprise. Verses like “His eyes green as ringstones: he yawns wide red” and “Fangs fine as a lady’s needle and bright” help describe the cats appearance and some distinguishing features such as his bright green, glaring eyes, cruel and icy; and his sharp fangs ready to tear into the tom-cats helpless
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