The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to seaIn a beautiful pea-green boat:They took some honey, and plenty of moneyWrapped up in a five-pound note.The Owl looked up to the stars above,And sang to a small guitar,"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,What a beautiful Pussy you are,You are,You are!What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,How charmingly sweet you sing!Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:But what shall we do for a ring?"They sailed away, for a year and a day,To the land where the bong-tree grows;And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,With a ring at the end of his nose,His nose,His nose,With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shillingYour ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."So they took it away, and were married next dayBy the Turkey who lives on the hill.They dined on mince and slices of quince,Which they ate with a runcible spoon;And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,They danced by the light of the moon,The moon,The moon,They danced by the light of the moon.
Words in this poem
- pussy n.
- A pet name for a cat; also, an endearing name for a girl. [Dim. of puss.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- mince v. t.
- To cut into very small pieces; to chop fine; to hash; as, to mince meat. [AS. minsian to grow less, dwindle, fr. min small; akin to G. minder less, Goth. minniza less, mins less, adv., L. minor, adj. (cf. Minor); or more likely fr. F.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nonsense Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #13647; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, in Nonsense Songs (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13647, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lear-nonsense-songs/the-owl-and-the-pussy-cat.html, id L16724.
Form and metre
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat is 33 lines in 3 stanzas of 11 lines each. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 -A-ABCBCCCC sea · boatA · money · noteA · aboveB · guitarC · loveB · areC · areC · areC · areC
- 2 -A-A-B-BBBB fowl · singA · tarried · ringA · day · growsB · stood · noseB · noseB · noseB · noseB
- 3 -A-A-B-BBBB shilling · willA · day · hillA · quince · spoonB · sand · moonB · moonB · moonB · moonB
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| In a beautiful pea-green boat: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| They took some honey, and plenty of money | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Wrapped up in a five-pound note. | 7 | ······· |
| The Owl looked up to the stars above, | 9 | ········· |
| And sang to a small guitar, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| "O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| What a beautiful Pussy you are, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| You are, | 2 | ·· |
| You are! | 2 | ·· |
| What a beautiful Pussy you are!" | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| How charmingly sweet you sing! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried: | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| But what shall we do for a ring?" | 8 | ········ |
| They sailed away, for a year and a day, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To the land where the bong-tree grows; | 8 | ········ |
| And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| With a ring at the end of his nose, | 9 | ········· |
| His nose, | 2 | ·· |
| His nose, | 2 | ·· |
| With a ring at the end of his nose. | 9 | ········· |
| "Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| So they took it away, and were married next day | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| By the Turkey who lives on the hill. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| They dined on mince and slices of quince, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Which they ate with a runcible spoon; | 9 | ········· |
| And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, | 10 | ·········· |
| They danced by the light of the moon, | 8 | ········ |
| The moon, | 2 | ·· |
| The moon, | 2 | ·· |
| They danced by the light of the moon. | 8 | ········ |
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.