Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse (Hardcover)

by Henry Beard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Even if you don't like cats--or poetry--you'll be tickled by the contents of Henry Beard's Poetry for Cats. Beard has already demonstrated his command of French in previous books, French for Cats and Advanced French for Exceptional Cats. Now he shows off his extraordinary skills as a parodist. Consider, for example, "Grendel's Dog," from "Beocat":

. . . Then boasted Beocat, noble battle-kitten,

Bane of barrow-bunnies, bold seeker of nest-booty:

. . . I would lay the whelpling low with lethal claw-blows;

Fur would fly and the foe would taste death-food . . .

Or, from a later period, William Blake's cat's poem, "The Mongrel":

Mongrel! Mongrel! Barking blight,

Bane upon my yard at night;

What infernal hand or eye,

Could frame thy vile anatomy?

Beard is obviously at home with poetry of many genres, from ancient odes to modern blank verse. These poems are fun even if you don't know the original sources; if you do, they are sublime.

Product Description
In the vein of his bestselling French for Cats, Henry Beard has assembled a brilliant anthology of treasured works by feline poets. Includes "Do Not Go Gentle to That Damned Vet" by Dylan Thomas's cat, "The Human" by Edgar Allan Poe's cat and other works. Poetry for Cats will prove as thrilling as a stiff shot of catnip. Color illustrations.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 87 pages
• Publisher: Villard; First Edition edition (October 25, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679435824
• ISBN-13: 978-0679435822
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #467,169 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant!, July 14, 2003

By	Morpho menelaus (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

Henry Beard has both a good knowledge of the original poems and of cats. His spoofs are tremendously clever, and he chooses the most common poems in English literature, so most people will recognize them. I laughed myself nearly sick. It's as good as jogging! ;-)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever and Inspired, May 14, 2003

By	Miss Jane "book girl" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This book is funny in and of itself; however, if you are familiar with the poems on which these are based, you're in for a special treat. Beard doesn't just substitute words: his premise is that the poets' cats wrote these poems, which makes "She Walks In Booties" or "Abyssinias" even more feline, er, sublime...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Cat Poetry, November 12, 2005

By	Richard Roche "ricklibrarian" (Downers Grove, Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Readers of Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse by Henry Beard will notice how much influence humans have on cats. Cats will not enjoy having this pointed out. They work hard to protect their free will and try to dictate the terms of their relationships with humans. You can not just pick up a cat and expect it to be happy being held; you have to wait until the cat is ready. Cats will not play with toys just because you want to play. Cats appear to think independently, but their poetry betrays them.

Here is a bit of verse written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's cat:

I chased a mouse beneath the stair,
It went to ground, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it ran, my sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

Sound familiar?

There is more. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's cat wrote the following:

In Xanadu did Kubla Kat
A splendid sofa-bed decree
With silken cushions soft and fat
A perfect feline habitat
Set on a gilt settee.

Here is another sample, this time by William Shakespeare's cat:

To go outside, and there perchance to stay
Or to remain within: that is the question:
Whether `tis better for a cat to suffer
The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
That nature rains on those who roam abroad
Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet ...

Have you noticed a trend? It appears that cats listen more than they let on, and they even identify with the humans with whom they relate. They certainly borrow verse as freely as they claim their favorite chairs.

Cats do deserve some credit for knowing what poetry to borrow and adapt as their own. They are able to turn bits of Chaucer, Keats, Frost, or Ginsberg into works that serve their purposes, such as catching goldfish, breaking vases, or berating Whitman for sleeping too late. In near unison they raise their voices to complain about their vets.

One thing that surprises me about Poetry for Cats is that Henry Beard never reveals the cats' names. I can not imagine that Emily Dickinson had a nameless cat!

Poetry for Cats is an attractive book with colorful illustrations and is still in print after eleven years. I found our copy when inventorying the poetry collection. I am afraid few people have borrowed it lately, so I am going to put it on display. The cats need to be heard.