What is the moral of the poem Ode on the Death of a Favourite cat?

What is the moral of the poem Ode on the Death of a Favourite cat?

The Poem. The title of Thomas Gray’s “Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes” signals that the poem is to be read as a light satire. The closing of the poem is a satiric moral directed to ladies about the dire consequences that follow vanity and temptation.

How did Walpole’s cat die?

The macabre story of the death of Horace Walpole’s cat is told with the return of a large but deadly pot to Strawberry Hill House. When Horace Walpole’s cat Selima drowned while trying to catch the goldfish he kept in one of his large antique Chinese ware bowls, it was of course a sad occurrence.

Who wrote an ode to a cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes?

Thomas Gray
Alongside Alexander Pope, Thomas Gray is one of the most important English poets of the 18th century.

What female heart can gold despise What cat’s averse to fish?

What cat’s averse to fish?” Horace Walpole once asked his friend Thomas Gray to write an epitaph for his cat Selima, who had recently drowned in a large Goldfish Tub.

What is the tone of Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat?

In Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes, Gray used a satiric tone to support his theme of how vanity and greed can lead to one’s demise.

Why does the poet suggest that the dolphin and the Nereid should have helped the Favourite?

They are so lovely and magical in appearance that the speaker actually compares them to angels or genii. The cat cannot seem to help herself, as she is so drawn, so attracted to the beautiful fish that she must reach for them.

What was the name of Horace Walpole’s cat that inspired a poem by Thomas Gray?

In February 1747, Selima the tabby fell into a Chinese blue and white porcelain tub in Walpole’s house in London’s Mayfair and never returned to dry land. The poem by Thomas Gray, “Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold-fishes,” was written as her mock epitaph.

Who wrote an ode to a cat?

‘Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes’ is, along with his ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ and his ‘Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College’, the most famous poem by Thomas Gray (1716-71).

What is the tone of the Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes?

What author does gray refer to by name in Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard?

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a poem by Thomas Gray, completed in 1750 and first published in 1751. The poem’s origins are unknown, but it was partly inspired by Gray’s thoughts following the death of the poet Richard West in 1742.

Who wrote an elegy on the death of a Favourite cat?

What do tabby cats look like?

A tabby is any domestic cat (Felis catus) with a distinctive ‘M’ shaped marking on its forehead, stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail, and (differing by tabby type), characteristic striped, dotted, lined, flecked, banded, or swirled patterns on the body—neck, shoulders …

Is Ode on the death of a favourite cat a poem?

The poem, ‘Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes’, by Thomas Gray, is a remarkable poem in several ways. Though described as an ode, the poem tells a story. Besides, an ode is generally a serious poem while this poem is written in a satirical vein.

When did Thomas Gray write Ode to a cat?

“This Ode was sent in a letter to Horace Walpole, dated March 1, 1747, on the occasion of the death of one of his cats; at the same time, Gray sent a copy of it to Thomas Wharton, describing it, in mock-heroic style, as the ”most noble of my performances latterly.” There is a third copy in his handwriting in the Pembroke MSS.

What is the message of this poem by Thomas Gray?

This poem by Thomas Gray is a cautionary story about the dangers of taking what is not rightfully ours.

What is the difference between a poem and an ode?

Though described as an ode, the poem tells a story. Besides, an ode is generally a serious poem while this poem is written in a satirical vein. The poem, we are told by biographers and commentators, is based on an actual incident, and has therefore the stamp of authenticity on it.

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