The Cat and the Moon
The cat went here and thereAnd the moon spun round like a top,And the nearest kin of the moonThe creeping cat looked up.Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,For wander and wail as he wouldThe pure cold light in the skyTroubled his animal blood.Minnaloushe runs in the grass,Lifting his delicate feet.Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?When two close kindred meetWhat better than call a dance,Maybe the moon may learn,Tired of that courtly fashion,A new dance turn.Minnaloushe creeps through the grassFrom moonlit place to place,The sacred moon overheadHas taken a new phase.Does Minnaloushe know that his pupilsWill pass from change to change,And that from round to crescent,From crescent to round they range?Minnaloushe creeps through the grassAlone, important and wise,And lifts to the changing moonHis changing eyes.
Stand up and lift your hand and blessA man that finds great bitternessIn thinking of his lost renown.A Roman Caesar is held downUnder this hump.
God tries each manAccording to a different plan.I shall not cease to bless becauseI lay about me with the tawsThat night and morning I may thrashGreek Alexander from my flesh,Augustus Caesar, and after theseThat great rogue Alcibiades.
To all that in your flesh have stoodAnd blessed, I give my gratitude,Honoured by all in their degrees,But most to Alcibiades.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
- moonlit a.
- Illumined by the moon.
- 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,]
- taws n.
- A leather lash, or other instrument of punishment, used by a schoolmaster. [See Taw to beat.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cat and the Moon is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wild Swans at Coole, Project Gutenberg ebook #32491; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. B. Yeats, The Cat and the Moon, in The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32491, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-wild-swans/the-cat-and-the-moon.html, id L20036.
Form and metre
The Cat and the Moon is 45 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 --A-AB-BCDEDEFFFC----G-GCHAH there · top · moonA · up · moonA · wouldB · sky · bloodB · grassC · feetD · danceE · meetD · danceE · learnF · fashionF · turnF · grassC · place · overhead · phase · pupils · changeG · crescent · rangeG · grassC · wiseH · moonA · eyesH
- 2 AABB- blessA · bitternessA · renownB · downB · hump
- 3 AABB---- manA · planA · becauseB · tawsB · thrash · flesh · these · alcibiades
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The cat went here and there | 6 | ······ |
| And the moon spun round like a top, | 8 | ········ |
| And the nearest kin of the moon | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The creeping cat looked up. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon, | 9 | ·····˘··· |
| For wander and wail as he would | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The pure cold light in the sky | 7 | ······· |
| Troubled his animal blood. | 7 | /˘·/˘˘· |
| Minnaloushe runs in the grass, | 7 | ······· |
| Lifting his delicate feet. | 7 | /˘·/˘˘· |
| Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance? | 9 | ········· |
| When two close kindred meet | 6 | ···/˘· |
| What better than call a dance, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Maybe the moon may learn, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Tired of that courtly fashion, | 9 | /˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| A new dance turn. | 4 | ···· |
| Minnaloushe creeps through the grass | 7 | ······· |
| From moonlit place to place, | 6 | ·/···· |
| The sacred moon overhead | 7 | ·/˘·/˘/ |
| Has taken a new phase. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Will pass from change to change, | 6 | ······ |
| And that from round to crescent, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From crescent to round they range? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Minnaloushe creeps through the grass | 7 | ······· |
| Alone, important and wise, | 7 | ˘/˘/˘·· |
| And lifts to the changing moon | 7 | ····/˘· |
| His changing eyes. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Stand up and lift your hand and bless | 8 | ········ |
| A man that finds great bitterness | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| In thinking of his lost renown. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| A Roman Caesar is held down | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Under this hump. | 4 | ···· |
| God tries each man | 4 | ···· |
| According to a different plan. | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| I shall not cease to bless because | 8 | ········ |
| I lay about me with the taws | 8 | ········ |
| That night and morning I may thrash | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Greek Alexander from my flesh, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Augustus Caesar, and after these | 9 | ˘/˘/˘···· |
| That great rogue Alcibiades. | 6 | ······ |
| To all that in your flesh have stood | 8 | ········ |
| And blessed, I give my gratitude, | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| Honoured by all in their degrees, | 9 | /˘˘····˘/ |
| But most to Alcibiades. | 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.