Cats are People Too!

Many poets like using characters to capture emotion, and in some instances, the character happens to be an animal. I personally like poetry that centers around animals, because it gives emotion and thought to creatures that can’t voice either for themselves. After reading the poetry of T.S. Eliot and Craig Arnold, I can actually only claim to like SOME poetry that centers around animals, because of the difference shown by these two poets’ styles.

Craig Arnold is a poet that still writes today, and he has a number of very good poems. In one poem titled “Very Large Moth”, Arnold describes a moth that is flying around in a kitchen. Here are a couple phrases he uses in this poem:

Like televisions, its leg joints are large enough to count…

A creature so solid must have room for a soul…

Caught in a shopping bag and rushed to the front door

Arnold’s method for describing this animal in poetry is just that…description. He’s describing what a very large moth is like while it’s caught in a kitchen and trying to find its way out. I like this poem, and I like Arnold’s poetry, but I think the difference between this poem and T.S. Eliot’s “The Old Gumbie Cat” is the difference between good and great, in my opinion.

While Arnold uses his poetry to describe the events of a moth caught in a kitchen, T.S. Eliot uses his poetry not only to describe an old Gumbie cat, but also gives personality to the creature. We get to see the personality and mentality of the old Gumbie cat, in such lines as:

She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment

To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment

So she’s formed, from that lot of disorderly louts,

A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts

With a purpose in life and a good deed to do –

And she’s even created a Beetles’ Tattoo

I like both poems about animals, and poems about animals in general, but the way that T.S. Eliot captures the curious and devious nature of his “Old Gumbie Cat” is so much more impressive to me than simple descriptive poetry about an animals’ life. I love the playful attitude Eliot shows the cat having, and anyone with a cat knows exactly what he’s talking about. It helps us remember that cats are people too.


Suggested poetry site of the week: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine