Buy used: $13.00

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Thursday, February 2 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery January 31 - February 1

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by BobTailSupplies

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Henry Beard

Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse Hardcover – October 25, 1994

by Henry Beard (Author), Gary Zamchick (Illustrator)

86 ratings

4.1 on Goodreads

265 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$13.00

$27.99

$1.28

Hardcover
$13.00

52 Used from $1.28 6 New from $27.99

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.

Print length

87 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Villard
Publication date

October 25, 1994
Dimensions

5.28 x 0.47 x 7.3 inches
ISBN-10

0679435824
ISBN-13

978-0679435822
See all details

Henry Beard
30
Hardcover
43 offers from $1.17
Henry Beard
74
Hardcover
59 offers from $1.34
Emily Fragos
90
Hardcover
42 offers from $1.91
Henry Beard
14
Hardcover
32 offers from $3.24
Henry Beard
47
Paperback
42 offers from $1.35
Francesco Marciuliano
6,493
Hardcover
226 offers from $1.38

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.

From the Inside Flap

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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Villard; First Edition (October 25, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 87 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679435824
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679435822
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.28 x 0.47 x 7.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #21,875 in Humor (Books)

Customer Reviews:
86 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Henry Beard

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

86 global ratings

5 star		81%
4 star		13%
3 star		2%
2 star		4%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

D. Knuth

Love these poems written as if by the cats of famous poets.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

We love these poems written as if by the cats of famous poets in the style of their humans. We quote from them all the time. It’s out of print so only available as used.

“Go not gentle to that damn vet, hide hide when the appointment time is set.” Usually quoted as we are searching for a cat to take to the vet.

They make a great gift for a cat lover. I have bought one for us and then three more as gifts for cat sitters.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

J Bjork

ordered new book, doesn't look new

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 26, 2022

Verified Purchase

I paid for a "new" book. I am not sure what I got is new. It appears to be used, writing on the back jacket, marred back jacket and dented top edge of cover. I bought this for a gift and paid a lot for it, so the condition is disappointing. I feel like I over payed for this book.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

hey you

Truly the "Definitive Anthology" ... and delightful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a great book. I own two copies: one to keep, one to lend. The poems are parodies of those typically read in school, so most readers should understand the allusions. Even if you don't know the original poem, though, the author has such a brilliant ear for language (and such an obvious love and appreciation for cats), that you are sure to smile all the same.
The humor is sly and gentle, the illustrations sweet, the poetry awesome. "How do I break thee? Let me count the ways." (That's the first line of "To A Vase," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cat.) "I situate myself, and seat myself, / And where you recline I shall recline, / For every armchair belonging to you as good as belongs to me." (by Walt Whitman's cat)
If you like cats but don't know any poetry, you will smile at this book for the perfect understanding the author has for cats. If you like poetry but not cats (although I don't know how that can be possible), you will laugh a lot at the truly impressive poetic parodies. If you like both poetry and cats, you will be so delighted that you will buy copies for all of your poetry-appreciating, cat-loving friends.
A classic.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

C. Brooks

Could have mentioned the chewed cover

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

The book was in very good condition, as listed, but the condition could have been more descriptive, like: "If it wasn't for the small mouse chew marks on two corners of the cover, this book is in excellent condition".
Kind of ironic for a Cat book.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the purchase.

Helpful

Kat Ryker

Cute and Entertaining

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

Bought this as a Christmas gift for a cat-person, and it is just cute enough and entertaining enough to be a great gift or even a stocking stuffer!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 18, 2002

Verified Purchase

This is one of the funniest things I've read in years. Beard, as usual, is masterful in his parody. In this case he takes on great poetry ranging from "Beowulf" to "Xanadu" to "Song of Myself" and and "Howl", not to mention every age and genre in between.
Not only is the parody marvellous, but Beard captures the very soul and essence of the cat. (If you read nothing else, read "The End of the Raven")
As if that weren't enough, the book has also made me go back and reread many of the original works, most of which I haven't looked at in years, some of which I'd never read. Who knew that "The Emperor of Tuna Fish" would lead me to a deeper appreciation for the original work, "The Emperor of Ice Cream"?
If you like poetry, or you like cats, or you like poetry written by cats, read this book.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Matthew Howard

Funny Parodies of Classics

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book probably holds the most appeal for people familiar with the most famous classics of western poetry, and who also love cats. The author has taken well-known works by Shakespeare and Blake (and many more) and imbued them with the singular personality of the feline. Some are cute, and many are laugh-out-loud funny. I read them to some of my more literary friends who got as big a kick out of them as I did.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Carol

Classic Poetry from a Cat's Point of View

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

An oldie but goodie. Henry Beard does a marvelous job transforming those beloved hoary old chestnuts that English & Literature students are so very familiar with into witty, amusing poems from a cat's point of view. Who could not love "a host of cottontails" in place of daffodils or "a barking blight" in place of a tyger burning bright? Two thumbs up for this little book.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Brenda M Cook

Spoiled for a ha'penth of Tar

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 26, 2012

Verified Purchase

A wonderful wonderful, WONDERFUL book! I agree with all the positive things said in all the other reviews. (I have just bought a second copy to send to a friend who needs cheering up!) BUT I do have one - or two - little niggles which I am going to inflict on you. First of all, the author would seem to be American. It does not matter to me if he uses American idioms in poems which parody American poets but I have reservations when he uses such vocabulary in a British poem (Rudyard Kipling's cat would never have referred to "kitty litter" (even if such had exisited in his day which I doubt!) The correct British English is "CAT LITTER). There are other examples: his Wordsworthian cat refers to rabbits as "Cottontails" - another Americanism.

My second reservation - a more serious one - is that the artist may have good draftsmanship but he seems ignorant of the cultural context of these poems (indeed has he READ them with any attention?)and makes some infuriating visual blunders. Take the FRONT COVER. The raven is depicted standing on the bust of Shakespeare. But in "The end of the raven" - page 32 - the line reads .. "that dreaded bust of Pallas I deplore ". In other words, the bust is of the Graeco-Roman goddess of wisdom and learning, Pallas Athene and not of the English playwrite. Take "Grendel's Dog" - pages 2/3 - The cat is shown lurking by a Gothic arched mousehole set in a stone wall. Anglo-Saxon "high halls" were of timber, richly carved, and their gables were straight, not curved. The artist clearly has not the faintest idea about Anglo-Saxon architecture. Nor do I feel the "Wooden Cat of Troy" really illustrated a poem about Helen's cat.

I am nit-picking furiously I freely admit, but this "ship" has been "spoiled for a h'penth of tar" as far as I am concerned.

2 people found this helpful

Richard

Very funny and clever!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

I attend a Creative Writing class and an example poem from this book was used, by our tutor, to illustrate some learning points. It was written by Henry Beard, one of the founders of National Lampoon and writer of "Bored of the Rings" and other humorous works - so I discovered!
It's not available new. I presume it's out of print, but I located a copy in very good nick on Amazon at a reasonable price.
Student's of English literature and cat-lovers would find this an enjoyable read.
There are 39 poems of various lengths ostensibly written by cats of notable authors such as Chaucer, Kipling, Coleridge, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Browning, and more contemporaries, such as Ginsberg and Pound.
I'm a chemical engineer by profession and have no grounding to speak of in literature beyond secondary school, but I really enjoyed the characterisation that's gone into this imaginative and clever collection, some of which raise a chuckle, but all of which can be admired as pastiches of author style or specific works, but from a feline perspective.

Mike Smith

Very well done

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

A series of poems 'in the style of', very entertaining and some are poignant. Recommended for anyone who likes either poetry or cats (or both).

Sabre

I was looking for a book by the Author Henry Beards

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

which is why I bought myself a copy of it, it was highly recommended by a friend