Here is the poem again. Again we'd like you to decide which word classes
the words belong to, but this time the words chosen are a bit more tricky.
Indeed, there will often be ambiguities and no simple answer.
Talk with your partners about which word class you
think the word belongs to and also what sorts of effects relevant to the
poem Hughes is trying to create.
We suggest that you start with stanza 3 and come back to stanzas 1 and
2 after you have done the rest, because the examples in the first two
stanzas are in some ways a bit more complex. By looking at these words,
and their derivations, carefully, we can begin to explore the character
of the cat in this poem, a cat which seems at first to be a particular
cat (the one belonging to Esther), but which soon becomes representative
of all tomcats - essence of tomcat, if you like!
Daylong this tomcat lies stretched
flat
As an old rough mat, no mouth and no eyes.
Continual wars and wives are what
Have tattered his ears and battered his head.
Like a bundle of old rope and iron
Sleeps till blue dusk. Then reappear
His eyes, green as ringstones: he yawns wide
red,
Fangs fine as a lady's needle and bright.
A tomcat sprang at a mounted knight,
Locked round his neck like a trap of hooks
While the knight rode fighting its clawing
and bite.
After hundreds of years the stain's there
On the stone where he fell, dead of the tom:
That was at Barnborough. The tomcat still Grallochs odd dogs on the quiet,
Will take the head clean off your simple pullet.
Is unkillable. From the dog's fury,
From gunshot fired point-blank he brings
His skin whole, and whole
From owlish moons of bekittenings
Among ashcans. He leaps and lightly
Walks upon sleep, his mind on the moon
Nightly over the round world of men
Over the roofs go his eyes and outcry.
Once you have decided which word class you think
the word belongs to and what sorts of effects Hughes is trying to create
compare your analysis with ours by clicking on the words below.
