To continue last week’s leitmotif of books of cat poetry, I have gone back to what many people consider the original and the best. Rather than a series of poems from the cats’ own perspective, like I Could Pee on This, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats is a series of narratives and how-tos about cats. It was first published in 1939 and has been in print ever since. Our library owns several versions with black and white drawings. We also have a winsomely illustrated version with only three of the poems called Growltiger’s Last Stand.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats is based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. I have never seen the musical and can’t quite picture how it would work as a musical, but I know it was hugely popular on the stage and is available at our library to borrow on DVD.
In some circles T.S. Eliot is most famous for his serious poetry like “The Waste Land” or “The Hollow Men.” Many students of English literature are familiar with these poems (willingly or not). And many of these same students of literature are surprised that the mind that produced the dark and cynical lines of his serious poems could also produce his light and lilting poems about cats.
Compare this gem from “The Waste Land”:
“I think we are in rats’ alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.”
And from “The Hollow Men”:
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
To the rollicking:
Macavity’s a mystery cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw –
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the flying sqad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime — Macavity’s not there!
And
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were a very notorious couple of cats.
As knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians, tight-rope walkers and acrobats
T.S. Eliot’s skill and dexterity with language show through in both cases, lilting or dark. These are great read-aloud poems that roll off the tongue. Some of our copies of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats are shelved in the children’s section, and the poems are certainly suitable for and loved by children, but I also recommend them for cat lovers and lovers of language.
Check the WRL catalog for Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
I saw the picture of the orange book with the tower of cats on your site and just had to comment. I was taking a class in graduate school about image/text relationships and had to write a paper, but couldn’t settle on an illustrated book. I finally decided to use this Edward Gorey illustrated copy of T.S. Eliot’s poems, along with an earlier illustrated version, comparing the two, and commenting on how the pictures help bring out the nuances of the words. It was a fun paper to write (a more light hearted edge to my usual scholarship), and seeing your image this morning brought back memories. I love cats–and I love those poems! (Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones; in fact, he’s remarkably fat.)
sthruby
I have a Bustopher Jones (but he’s generally known as Pimpernel and I mentioned him in my post about “I Could Pee on This”). I used to have a cat named Macavity, and I think that poem is still my favorite.
My personal copy is the Faber and Faber version with illustrations by Nicolas Bentley and I am partial to those. Our library still has the 1967 version with T.S. Eliot’s own drawings on the cover. But I have to say he was a better poet than an artist!
Jan
I love both these poems and the musical which they inspired, Cats. Adorable poetry by a remarkable author.