Faber Book Of Beasts Poetry Analysis

Analysing poetry is not an easy task; poetry is a complex and complicated subject. To begging with, we have to consider that these two writers worked in different time period. Thom Gunn worked through the 20th century while Thomas Flatman was a writer from the 17th century. The way they write is different, by analysing both poems we can see that Thom Gunn uses a free verses and little rhyming ‘The Girls wake, stretch, and pad up to the door. / They rub my leg and purr’ (Muldoon, 1997, p.

5).

Rhyme and Imagery in Faber Book Of Beasts

On the other hand, the use of rhymes is clear in Flatman’s poem, ‘Only cats when they fall / From a house or a Wall’ (Muldoon, 1997, pp. 5-6), according to the evidence provided is possible to say that Thomas Flatman is using rhyming couplets, where it usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter. Gunn uses a freer usage of structure in his poem, but his lineation is essential to the flow of the verse.

This is clear in the opening line of ‘Apartment Cats’, ‘and pad up to the door’ (Muldoon, 1997, p. 5) it plays a monosyllabic mimicking of the cats paws.

Gunn’s poem consist of longer lines with ten syllables and shorter lines with five syllables, where in Flatman’s poem most of the lines are made of eleven syllables. Gunn’s poem ‘Apartment Cats’ is composed with shorter lines comparing with Flatman’s ‘An Appeal to Cats in the Business of Love’.

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Even comparing the titles of these two poems, we get to the conclusion that Flatman’s title is more related to anthropomorphist, in the way he uses the words ‘Cats in the Business of Love’, it made me wonder at first, if he was really writing about cats?

But after I read his poem, where he mentioned the old Lady Grimalkin, and the way she came alive in his poem with the line ‘Puss! Puss! Last no long, but turn to Cat-whore! ‘ (Muldoon, 1997, pp. 5-6). I can therefore, confirm that he was writing about cats. In both poems the cats have been subtly personified, where in my own opinion we can say that Thom Gunn’s poem ‘Apartment Cats’ is an anthropomorphist poem, in this case he describe the cats with a human attitude ‘She abruptly rises, knowing well / How to stalk off in wise indifference’ (Muldoon, 1997, p. ), in these lines he contrasted the liberty by humans, and the freedom of choice. In Thomas Flatman poem ‘An Appeal to Cats in the Business of Love’, he gives us the sense that he is comparing cats with humans, in a sexual way.

Both poets sexualize the cats, we can see in Gunn’s poem which is highly charged with sexual imagery, when he mentioned ‘their eyes get wild, their bodies tense'(Muldoon, 1997, p. ) giving us the sense that two people, in this case the Girls from his opening line are sexual attracted to each other. As we know Gunn wrote apartment Cats in the 1970’s, where his verses were associated with drugs, homosexuality and sex. In Flatman’s poem is clearer the way he sexualizes the cats ‘Man ride many miles, Cats tread many tiles’ (Muldoon, 1997,pp. 5-6), it suggests that cats have sex only for the pleasure of having sex, therefor we can see the clearly comparison with human beings.