Greed is one of the underlying themes found in Thomas Gray’s Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat. This greed becomes the ultimate demise of the lead character, Selima the Cat. Mr. Gray uses a few different literary techniques to bring to life the inanimate written words. These techniques along with word choice allow for the possibility of many different interpretations of the text.
The general format Mr. Gray follows is seven stanzas of AACBBC form, wherein the A and B lines consist of eight syllables and the C lines consist of six. Thomas Gray also uses alliteration to emphasize certain aspects of the peom. “…fair round face/golden gleam…”(lines 8
Formalistic Approach to Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat (Favourite)
Formalistic Approach to Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat (Favourite)
Formal analysis of poetry helps to unfold the underlying meaning of a poem. This technique does not focus on the author of the poem, or what was happening in history during the time when the poem was written, but instead puts emphasis on the actual mean of the work. Formal analysis breaths life into the literary work and allows the poem to speak for itself. For example, in Thomas Grays’ poem “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes,” paying close attention to word choice, structure, and rhyme scheme illuminates the actions of the prowling cat.
The most important aspect in writing poetry is word choice. Thomas Gray did an excellent job in using descriptive words, along with using assonance and alliteration, throughout this poem to enhance imagery. For example, in the first stanza Gray describes the cat as being “pensive”(5) as it watches the fish below. This is followed in the second stanza as Gray uses alliteration and assonance to describe t…