Dorothi Charles
Concrete Cat is an example of a concrete poem, a poem just giving focus to the physical picture, and not the imagination, emotion and language. This type of poem is written for eyes and not for mind and heart. It does not appeal to the heart because it doesn't emphasize on emotion and thought. It is written in the short form, which is also called reduced language. The writer has used black letters and placed it in such a manner that it shows us the picture of a cat on the page. To make the picture more vivid, the writer has used pointed letters. The words in the poem do not follow the regular pattern of the poem. Words are scattered in such a way that they form the real portrait of the thing to be expressed by the poem.
This poem talks about cat and its catness in action. The ear, eye, mouth, whisker, tail, etc. all have been sketched on the page to denote both abstract and physical meaning. The pun (a humorous play on words) in the cat’s middle stripes is the only place where language aims towards poetry and becomes figurative. As the letters are repeated, each word can create different meaning. It is the play of the words. When we separate the letters from “stripes”, the two words are created, “tripes” and “stripe”. "Tripes" means the belly (stomach tissue of an animal for use as a food) of animal and “stripe” means a relatively long band of color or texture.
The use of capital “A” shows the pointed ears of cat, the capital “Y” refers to the wide opened eyes of cat as it is approaching food. Similarly, the letter “U” used for mouth is suggesting that the cat licks its food. The poet has also associated some catness with the concrete cat. For example a mouse is shown upside down. It means the cat has recently killed it. There are some litter boxes at the corner, which suggests that the cat is in a storeroom. Furthermore the food kept near it suggests that it is a domestic one.
Unlike other poems, the words in this poem are arranged in such a way that emotion is kept in a shadow and real portrait is highlighted. From the words written in different shapes and styles we can easily understand that the poet is talking about the cat. The poem creates such a situation that we can see the real picture of cat immediately after we read the poem. Different parts of cat’s body are presented by the use of words in their respective places.
Generally poems are written in certain stanza and and it also follows the traditional pattern. Many poems are written in ornamental language. But, this poem doesn't follow that pattern. This poem is made for our eyes rather than our ears. The meaning of the poem is nothing other than the portrait of the cat.
This poem talks about cat and its catness in action. The ear, eye, mouth, whisker, tail, etc. all have been sketched on the page to denote both abstract and physical meaning. The pun (a humorous play on words) in the cat’s middle stripes is the only place where language aims towards poetry and becomes figurative. As the letters are repeated, each word can create different meaning. It is the play of the words. When we separate the letters from “stripes”, the two words are created, “tripes” and “stripe”. "Tripes" means the belly (stomach tissue of an animal for use as a food) of animal and “stripe” means a relatively long band of color or texture.
The use of capital “A” shows the pointed ears of cat, the capital “Y” refers to the wide opened eyes of cat as it is approaching food. Similarly, the letter “U” used for mouth is suggesting that the cat licks its food. The poet has also associated some catness with the concrete cat. For example a mouse is shown upside down. It means the cat has recently killed it. There are some litter boxes at the corner, which suggests that the cat is in a storeroom. Furthermore the food kept near it suggests that it is a domestic one.
Unlike other poems, the words in this poem are arranged in such a way that emotion is kept in a shadow and real portrait is highlighted. From the words written in different shapes and styles we can easily understand that the poet is talking about the cat. The poem creates such a situation that we can see the real picture of cat immediately after we read the poem. Different parts of cat’s body are presented by the use of words in their respective places.
Generally poems are written in certain stanza and and it also follows the traditional pattern. Many poems are written in ornamental language. But, this poem doesn't follow that pattern. This poem is made for our eyes rather than our ears. The meaning of the poem is nothing other than the portrait of the cat.
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