Verses On A Cat
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)
I.
A cat in distress,
Nothing more, nor less;
Good folks, I must faithfully tell ye,
As I am a sinner,
It waits for some dinner
To stuff out its own little belly.
II.
You would not easily guess
All the modes of distress
Which torture the tenants of earth;
And the various evils,
Which like so many devils,
Attend the poor souls from their birth.
III.
Some a living require,
And others desire
An old fellow out of the way;
And which is the best
I leave to be guessed,
For I cannot pretend to say.
IV.
One wants society,
Another variety,
Others a tranquil life;
Some want food,
Others, as good,
Only want a wife.
V.
But this poor little cat
Only wanted a rat,
To stuff out its own little maw;
And it were as good
SOME people had such food,
To make them HOLD THEIR JAW!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 158 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBCDDC ABBEFFE ADDGHHG ICCIJKI CLLMKJM |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 745 |
Words | 152 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7 |
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"Verses On A Cat" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29335/verses-on-a-cat>.
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