It is a matter of a black cat
On a bare cliff top in March
Whose eyes anticipate
The gorse petals;
The formal equation of
A domestic purr
With the cold interiors
Of the sea's mirror.
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Comments
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poem
From guest owner (contact)
this poem is about the formal equation and how it is used to calculate the age of the cats family the bare cliff top in march is symbolic to the poem as it shows where old people would want to commit suicide as their pension funds may have been cut off by the government the sea's mirror can only be used for old people as if they use a normal mirror, it will break because they are so ugly and useless, and usually complain about small things such as bus fares a domestic purr relates to RS Thomas father, Hugh.G.Rektion, so therefore he must have got a Bon Air i am the owner of a poetry collection and i sell poems for fun, so im right -
From guest oldperson18881 (contact)
the poem amazes me i cannot keep my eyes off the screen, i wish to stare at this poem 24/7, as being such an old person i have nothing better to do and live in a retirement home in waverly lodge. i am in love with this poem and quoting from the greatest poet ever
daniel ' I dont know how it happened....this poem is soo peng''
by the way im single
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Openingworlds
From guest openingworlds (contact)
i am in love with this poem...it has a deep meaning that it is absoultely not understandable however it reltes to old ppl as their age can only be worked out with a formal eqution, also the cold interiors may represent their agegin and fosslized bodies -
I think
From guest openingworlds (contact)
i absolutely love this poem, the complexity is tremendous..it is soo good that i cant understand a word of it whatsoever,,, however it may be about ppl woho are old and may want to commiy suicide, they are represented by the black cat..it can be related to....whose life is it anyway where the main charachter ken harrison wants to die -
Poem
From guest Becky (contact)
My thought when i read this poem was that the first line when saying 'it is a matter of a black cat' and black cats represent bad luck so to me this is saying its a matter of luck. i think this is a poem written about a man not a cat and about him questioning to throw himself off this bare cliff top. this gorse petals could be the petals that he anticipates will fall once he jumps. and the cold interiors are his feelings of his life. -
Analysis
From guest Katie (contact)
This is a metaphorical poem. It's a poem of opposites. It helps to think of them not as an actual cat and the sea but as what they represent. The sea is the wild, untameable, cold, insecure whereas the cat represents the warmth, the domestic, safety. The 'domestic purr' in the 'sea's mirror' could be that even those who are safe long to be free. The cat cannot be content with being safe, it wants to be wild. Cats used to be wild so this fits in perfectly. The gorse petals is also an opposite. The sharp gorse and the soft petals. Anyway, thats a start for anyone who's stuck on this poem. -
the cat and the sea
From guest Gwyneth (contact)
I might be completely wrong but i think this poem refers to John "Cat's eyes Cunningham"of 604 squadron RAF.He was said to be a gentle man but responsible for many deaths,duality of the cat?I like this poem but you're right it is difficult and I'm not at all sure I'm right about this? During the cold war they were involved in satellite surveilance "Whose eyes anticipate" Reference to C.A.T.Radar etc. Black cat and Gorse could be imagery for stars, or satelites and also the yellow uprising.(Not very PC but it is an old poem) Thomas was an Anglesey man and there is an airbase there, he was from a military family too.On 12 March 1953 7 airmen were killed on a training mission in Berlin. The plane was built at AVRO's and it was common practice to distinguish enemy planes with an uneven drone whereas our planes were balanced."The formal equation of a domestic purr" "Cold interiors" communist Russia? "The sea's mirror", The sky, satlites,airforce? It is common to burn gorse in winter then it springs back to life in spring.Could this poem be about ressurection being that RST was a deeply religious man and it would be around Easter time? I believe he was also in CND so the politics of this era would have been extremely worrying for him.I might have gone off on a complete tangent however. -
I like it.
I think the the cat's eyes are being compared to gorse petals, which are yellow and slitty. So the cat's eyes 'anticipate' the coming of the gorse, which grows on cliff tops. I think the next verse is juxtaposing and pointing out the dual contrary nature of the cat - on the one hand, warm and purry and domesticated, on the other hand difficult to see into and wild - like the mirrored surface of the sea. So I guess it's a poem about the nature of the cat. Of course I may be completely wrong!!! -
hmmm
this poem is really hard to understand, can anyone help me? -
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Could it be a seasonal thing, the cat impatient for spring? This is a puzzle.
Charley Noble
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