"Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"

Paper Summary:

"The Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Elliot is a book full of poems which describes different types of cats and their various personalities using anthropomorphism. This paper discusses how it is a book that has a wide variety of techniques, using personifying vocabulary, specific feline terms along with invented words and names. It contends that the book is a wonderful cocktail of ingredients that have harmoniously blended in together.

From the Paper:

"The following up poem Growltiger's Last Stand finely shows how unrealistic ally T.S. Elliot can portray a cat. Growltiger is described as a cat "who travelled on a barge" . Despite this eccentric description of the cat, T.S. Elliot writes great deal on the personality of this cat and the interaction he has with his travelling environment. As said in the poem, "[...] he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large", "The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear." T.S. Elliot also shows the "sentimental side" of Growltiger, this strengthens the portrayal of the human side which cats have. This deeper emotional side of a cat seems to only be shown in this poem whereas in other poems, the description is concentrated more on the acts, the observable behavior and traits and also the more, what I can call, shallow emotions. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Lorenz, Konrad, and Paul Leyhausen. Motivation of HUMAN and ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, an Ethological View. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1973
• "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats." Old Possum. 20 Nov. 2007 <http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/Classes/Summer97/SemGS/WebLex/OldPossum/oldpossumlex/>.
• "Literature -- Exploring Point of View." Literature Exploring Point of View. 28 Nov. 2007 <http://www.learner.org/interactives/literature/read/pov2.html>.
• "Tabby - Definitions From Dictionary.Com." Dictionary.Com. 28 Nov. 2007 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tabby>.
• "Anthropomorphism - Definitions From Dictionay.Com." Dictionary.Com. 1 Dec. 2007 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anthropomorphism>.

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