Gus: The Theatre Cat Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLMMNNJJOOJJ PPOOQRSSTTUUVVWXJJHH J| Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door | A |
| His name as I ought to have told you before | A |
| Is really Asparagus That's such a fuss | B |
| To pronounce that we usually call him just Gus | B |
| His coat's very shabby he's thin as a rake | C |
| And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake | C |
| Yet he was in his youth quite the smartest of Cats | D |
| But no longer a terror to mice and to rats | D |
| For he isn't the Cat that he was in his prime | E |
| Though his name was quite famous he says in its time | E |
| And whenever he joins his friends at their club | F |
| Which takes place at the back of the neighbouring pub | F |
| He loves to regale them if someone else pays | G |
| With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days | G |
| For he once was a Star of the highest degree | H |
| He has acted with Irving he's acted with Tree | H |
| And he likes to relate his success on the Halls | I |
| Where the Gallery once gave him seven cat calls | I |
| But his grandest creation as he loves to tell | J |
| Was Firefrorefiddle the Fiend of the Fell | J |
| - | |
| I have played so he says every possible part | K |
| And I used to know seventy speeches by heart | K |
| I'd extemporize back chat I knew how to gag | L |
| And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag | L |
| I knew how to act with my back and my tail | M |
| With an hour of rehearsal I never could fail | M |
| I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts | N |
| Whether I took the lead or in character parts | N |
| I have sat by the bedside of poor Little Nell | J |
| When the Curfew was rung then I swung on the bell | J |
| In the Pantomime season I never fell flat | O |
| And I once understudied Dick Whittington's Cat | O |
| But my grandest creation as history will tell | J |
| Was Firefrorefiddle the Fiend of the Fell | J |
| - | |
| Then if someone will give him a toothful of gin | P |
| He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne | P |
| At a Shakespeare performance he once walked on pat | O |
| When some actor suggested the need for a cat | O |
| He once played a Tiger could do it again | Q |
| Which an Indian Colonel purused down a drain | R |
| And he thinks that he still can much better than most | S |
| Produce blood curdling noises to bring on the Ghost | S |
| And he once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire | T |
| To rescue a child when a house was on fire | T |
| And he says Now then kittens they do not get trained | U |
| As we did in the days when Victoria reigned | U |
| They never get drilled in a regular troupe | V |
| And they think they are smart just to jump through a hoop | V |
| And he'll say as he scratches himself with his claws | W |
| Well the Theatre's certainly not what it was | X |
| These modern productions are all very well | J |
| But there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell | J |
| That moment of mystery | H |
| When I made history | H |
| As Firefrorefiddle the Fiend of the Fell | J |
T. S. Eliot
(1)
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About Gus: The Theatre Cat
Gus: The Theatre Cat is a poem by T. S. Eliot. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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