Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Essay

The two rimes I am comparing Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat by Thomas Gray and To a Mouse by Robert Burns were both written in the eighteenth century, which makes it interesting to make a comparison of their content, style and techniques, to see how poems of the eighteenth century differ from each other.both of the poems feature an animal as the main subject of the poem. In Grays poem he has a digest spew out as the main focus of the poem whilst Burns dedicates his poem to a field mouse. Both these animals come to an unfortunate end. The cat due to curiosity tumbled headlong into a tub of gold fishes This supports the well known phrase curiosity killed the cat In the poem it refers to the cat as actually loosing 9 livesEight eons emerging from the floodShe mewd to evry watry God.No wholeness arrives to save herNo Dolphin came, no Nereid stirrd Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heared.The dolphin is included in the total of possible rescuers because it is a reference to the class ical legend of the harpist, Arion, being relieve by a dolphin which had been entranced by his music, practically in the same way the cat wanted to be saved by some one(a) who heard its meowing.In Burnss poem the mouse unlike the cat does not actually die, but it is made clear that the prospects for the mouse are bleak due to its house being destroyed by the plough and the fact winter is coming and the mouse has no time to build another home for itselfNow thous turnd out, for a thy trouble, further house or hald,To thole the Winters sleety dribble,Ancraneuch cauldThe poems are both basically close a particular ill-fated animal but each has a deeper meaning and inwardness done anthropomorphism.The cat in Grays poem is given feminine characteristics a fair troll face illustrates the ideal image of an eighteenth century womans face. Gray also uses metaphors to define the cat which also apply to a ladys jewels and adornmentsThe velvet of her paws,Her coat, that with the tortoise vies, Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes.In verse quatern the comparison of the cat to a woman is made even clearerShe stretchd in worthless to reach the prize.What female heart can gold despise?What cats averse to fish?It is clear here that Gray is illustrating how women are seduced by the desire for gold as cats are seduced by the desire for fish. The anthropomorphism continues in verses 5 and 7Presumptious maid andFrom hence you Beauties, undeceivdKnow one false step is neer retrieved.The last lines of the poem contain a moral non all that tempts your wandring eyesAnd heedless hearts, is lawful prizeNor all that glisters gold. finished the cat Gray created a cautionary tale specifically aimed at women. Its a type not to be tempted by what is not rightly theirs, and not to be seduced by glittering appearances because it may not be as good as it looks on the outside.Gray is very direct with his message of warning to women but he writes in a light-hearted way without. However, B urns poem is much more serious and sombre.He uses anthropomorphism like Gray to get his message across through an animal, in this case the mouse is used to highlight the social and moral problems that he felt existed in both the public and in his own family His father died after eighteen years of hard mesh as a farmer. After his fathers death they had little money, leaving them no picking but to sublease a farm in order to keep their home. These experiences were brought through in to his poem when the mouse had its home destroyed by the plough