Cat (poem)
Cat is a poem written by Sam Gamgee and recorded in the Red Book of Westmarch, although at most he only touched up an older piece. Hobbits appear to have been fond of comic bestiary lore, of which this is an example.[1]
The poem contains two stanzas composed of alternating longer and shorter lines. It relies on assonance, the refrain of vowel sounds, to create internal rhyming.
It was published as the twelfth poem in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962).
The Poem
The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard,[2] dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps on his meat
where woods loom in gloom--
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet,
he does not forget.
See also
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "Preface"
- ↑ Pard is an archaic term for leopard.