Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes
E61633
"Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" is a mock-elegiac poem by Thomas Gray that humorously recounts the drowning of a cat while offering a moral about vanity and temptation.
Statements (41)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
mock-elegy
→
poem → |
| author |
Thomas Gray
→
|
| centralCharacter |
a favourite cat named Selima
→
|
| contrasts |
elevated style with trivial subject matter
→
|
| countryOfOrigin |
Great Britain
→
|
| genre |
mock-elegiac poetry
→
|
| hasHumorousTreatmentOf |
death
→
|
| influencedBy |
classical elegy
→
mock-heroic tradition → |
| isFrequentlyAnthologized |
true
→
|
| language |
English
→
|
| linesPerStanza |
6
→
|
| literaryForm |
ode
→
|
| literaryMovement |
Augustan poetry
→
|
| literaryPeriod |
18th-century British literature
→
|
| meter |
iambic tetrameter
→
|
| moral |
warning against the dangers of vanity
→
warning against yielding to temptation → |
| narrativePerspective |
third-person narrator
→
|
| notableLine |
"Not all that tempts your wandering eyes / And heedless hearts, is lawful prize"
→
|
| numberOfStanzas |
6
→
|
| originallyPublishedInCentury |
18th century
→
|
| portrays |
a cat reaching for goldfish and falling into the water
→
|
| rhymeScheme |
abab
→
|
| setting |
an indoor room with a tub of goldfish
→
|
| studiedIn |
courses on English literature
→
courses on satire → |
| style |
elevated diction applied to a trivial subject
→
|
| subject |
the drowning of a cat
→
|
| symbol |
goldfish as symbols of tempting luxury
→
the cat as a figure of vain desire → |
| theme |
moral lesson
→
temptation → vanity → |
| tone |
humorous
→
mock-heroic → |
| usesLiteraryDevice |
classical allusion
→
irony → personification → satire → |
Referenced by (1)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Thomas Gray
→
|
notableWork |