A cat bookE. V. LucasOmniClassics · Literature
A cat book
E. V. LucasShort comic poems give the household cat a catalogue of appetites, vanities, and practical objections.
Progress is saved in this browser
About the book
E. V. Lucas considers cats through a sequence of brief verses about their supposed character. Butter and cream inspire ingenuity; stolen food produces remarkably little visible remorse; a ball of wool can undo the work of a household. The poems also recognize the animal's grievances, especially when children dress it as a doll or try to ride it like a horse. Their humor depends on assigning human motives to familiar feline behavior, then letting the cat's priorities expose the inconvenience of human expectations. Predatory cruelty sits beside cleanliness, dignity, play, and appetite, preventing the portrait from becoming wholly sentimental. This compact collection is suited to reading a poem at a time, with its changing headings turning one animal into an inexhaustible comic subject.
- Animals and human habits
- Domestic comedy
- Affection and mischief
Why read it
The quick rhymes find comic variety in behavior that anyone who has lived with a cat will recognize.
English verse text of the 1927 Harper & Brothers edition