"Cat" was a poem written in the Red Book of Westmarch by Samwise Gamgee. Sam based his poem on an older piece, which was an example of comic bestiary lore that Hobbits liked.[1]
The poem consists of two stanzas alternating between two longer and shorter lines, relying on assonance to create internal rhymes.
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the poem in 1956 for his granddaughter, Joan Anne Tolkien,[2] using a device from medieval bestiaries: connecting lions and pards.[3] The poem first appeared as the twelfth poem in the 1962 collection, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book.[4] It was also published in The Poetical Cat: An Anthology in 1995.
References[]
- ↑ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, "Preface"
- ↑ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, "Introduction"
- ↑ "Pard" at The Medieval Bestiary
- ↑ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, Commentary: "Cat"