The Naming Of Cats Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCBCBABABADADEDED AFAFGEGECCEThe Naming of Cats is a difficult matter | A |
It isn't just one of your holiday games | B |
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter | A |
When I tell you a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES | B |
First of all there's the name that the family use daily | C |
Such as Peter Augustus Alonzo or James | B |
Such as Victor or Jonathan George or Bill Bailey | C |
All of them sensible everyday names | B |
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter | A |
Some for the gentlemen some for the dames | B |
Such as Plato Admetus Electra Demeter | A |
But all of them sensible everyday names | B |
But I tell you a cat needs a name that's particular | A |
A name that's peculiar and more dignified | D |
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular | A |
Or spread out his whiskers or cherish his pride | D |
Of names of this kind I can give you a quorum | E |
Such as Munkustrap Quaxo or Coricopat | D |
Such as Bombalurina or else Jellylorum | E |
Names that never belong to more than one cat | D |
But above and beyond there's still one name left over | A |
And that is the name that you never will guess | F |
The name that no human research can discover | A |
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS and will never confess | F |
When you notice a cat in profound meditation | G |
The reason I tell you is always the same | E |
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation | G |
Of the thought of the thought of the thought of his name | E |
His ineffable effable | C |
Effanineffable | C |
Deep and inscrutable singular Name | E |
T. S. Eliot
(2)
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