On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes
'Twas on a lofty vase's side,Where China's gayest art had dyedThe azure flowers that blow;Demurest of the tabby kind,The pensive Selima, reclin'd,Gaz'd on the lake below.
Her conscious tail her joy declar'd:The fair round face, the snowy beard,The velvet of her paws,Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,She saw; and purr'd applause.
Still had she gaz'd; but midst the tideTwo angel forms were seen to glide,The Genii of the stream:Their scaly armour's Tyrian hueThrough richest purple to the viewBetray'd a golden gleam.
The hapless nymph with wonder saw:A whisker first, and then a claw,With many an ardent wish,She stretch'd in vain to reach the prize.What female heart can gold despise?What Cat's averse to fish?
Presumptuous maid! with looks intentAgain she stretch'd, again she bent,Nor knew the gulf between.(Malignant Fate sat by, and smil'd.)The slippery verge her feet beguil'd,She tumbled headlong in.
Eight times emerging from the flood,She mew'd to every watery God,Some speedy aid to send.No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd:Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard.A favourite has no friend!
From hence, ye beauties, undeceiv'd,Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd,And be with caution bold.Not all that tempts your wandering eyesAnd heedless hearts is lawful prize,Nor all that glisters gold.
Words in this poem
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- tyrian a.
- Of or pertaining to Tyre or its people.
- hapless a.
- Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
- whisker n.
- One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- averse a.
- Turned away or backward. [L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes is in the public domain. This text is taken from Select Poems of Thomas Gray, Project Gutenberg ebook #30357; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Gray, On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, in Poems (1751), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30357, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gray-poems/on-the-death-of-a-favourite-cat-drowned-in-a-tub-of-gold-fishes.html, id L26199.
Form and metre
On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABCCB sideA · dyedA · blowB · kindC · reclin'dC · belowB
- 2 AABCCB declar'dA · beardA · pawsB · viesC · eyesC · applauseB
- 3 AABCCB tideA · glideA · streamB · hueC · viewC · gleamB
- 4 AABCCB sawA · clawA · wishB · prizeC · despiseC · fishB
- 5 AABCCB intentA · bentA · betweenB · smil'dC · beguil'dC · inB
- 6 AABCCB floodA · godA · sendB · stirr'dC · heardC · friendB
- 7 AABCCB undeceiv'dA · retriev'dA · boldB · eyesC · prizeC · goldB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Twas on a lofty vase's side, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where China's gayest art had dyed | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The azure flowers that blow; | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Demurest of the tabby kind, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The pensive Selima, reclin'd, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Gaz'd on the lake below. | 6 | ······ |
| Her conscious tail her joy declar'd: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The fair round face, the snowy beard, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The velvet of her paws, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her coat, that with the tortoise vies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| She saw; and purr'd applause. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Still had she gaz'd; but midst the tide | 8 | ········ |
| Two angel forms were seen to glide, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Genii of the stream: | 6 | ······ |
| Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Through richest purple to the view | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Betray'd a golden gleam. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| The hapless nymph with wonder saw: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A whisker first, and then a claw, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With many an ardent wish, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| She stretch'd in vain to reach the prize. | 8 | ········ |
| What female heart can gold despise? | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| What Cat's averse to fish? | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Presumptuous maid! with looks intent | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Again she stretch'd, again she bent, | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| Nor knew the gulf between. | 6 | ······ |
| (Malignant Fate sat by, and smil'd.) | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| The slippery verge her feet beguil'd, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| She tumbled headlong in. | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| Eight times emerging from the flood, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| She mew'd to every watery God, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Some speedy aid to send. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd: | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A favourite has no friend! | 7 | ······· |
| From hence, ye beauties, undeceiv'd, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And be with caution bold. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Not all that tempts your wandering eyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And heedless hearts is lawful prize, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor all that glisters gold. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.