Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat as an Ode
An ode is a rhymed
lyric dignified in style often in the
form of an address. Originally, it was intended to be sung. It deals with the
sad theme but ends with consolation. Gray calls the poem ‘Ode on the Death of a
Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes’ an ode but it is not strictly an
ode. In the poem the poet parodies the form of an ode.
An ode is essentially
in the form of an address to a human being, dead or living, a natural object,
an inanimate object, or an abstract idea. The poem ‘Ode on the Death of a
Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes’ is addressed to a cat belonging
to the poet’s friend Horace Walpole. The cat is spoken of in human terms. She
is addressed as ‘hapless nymph’ and ‘presumptuous maid’. Though she is called a
nymph, she cannot save herself from being drowned. Though she is bold and
daring, she takes a false step to catch the goldfishes in the vase which brings
her ultimate doom.
An ode has an exalted
and dignified theme. The poem is about how the cat actually drowned in a very
large garden vase. It is a mock heroic poem which employs the lofty style and
the conventions of epic poetry to describe a trivial or undignified theme. The
poem mocks its subject by treating it in an inappropriately grandiose manner.
Here the poet takes the death of a friend’s favourite cat and writes about it
as if the cat was a legendary figure.
An ode deals with sad
themes and ends with consolation. Undoubtedly, the poem deals with a sad theme.
In the poem, the poet describes the sad lot of the cat, Selima. She was the
favourite cat of Horace Walpole. When she falls into the water of the vase, she
cries for help again and again, but none comes to rescue her. But the poem does
not end with a consolation. Instead, it ends with a warning to beautiful women.
Gray warns the fair women not to labour under illusion. He says that no
beautiful creature should be led by the glittering appearances because all that
glitters is not gold.
An ode has its original
musical quality. It is usually rhymed. The rhyme scheme in each stanza of ‘Ode
on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes’ is aabccb, the
meter is iambic, with the first and second, and fourth and fifth lines in
tetrameter, the third and sixth lines in trimester.
The poem may be
regarded as a Horatian ode. Horatian ode is written on private or personal
experiences and the poem is also written on the personal experience of Horace
Walpole whose favourite cat met her doom in the water of the vase. The Horatian
ode also contains moral and Gray’s poem also contains a moral.
No comments:
Post a Comment