Subscribe: by Email | in Reader

Milk for the Cat -- Harold Monro

Guest poem sent in by Anustup Datta
(Poem #727) Milk for the Cat
 When the tea is brought at five o'clock,
 And all the neat curtains are drawn with care,
 The little black cat with bright green eyes
 Is suddenly purring there.

 At first she pretends, having nothing to do,
 She has come in merely to blink by the grate,
 But, though tea may be late or the milk may be sour,
 She is never late.

 And presently her agate eyes
 Take a soft large milky haze,
 And her independent casual glance
 Becomes a stiff, hard gaze.

 Then she stamps her claws or lifts her ears,
 Or twists her tail and begins to stir,
 Till suddenly all her lithe body becomes
 One breathing, trembling purr.

 The children eat and wriggle and laugh;
 The two old ladies stroke their silk:
 But the cat is grown small and thin with desire,
 Transformed to a creeping lust for milk.

 The white saucer like some full moon descends
 At last from the clouds of the table above;
 She sighs and dreams and thrills and glows,
 Transfigured with love.

 She nestles over the shining rim,
 Buries her chin in the creamy sea;
 Her tail hangs loose; each drowsy paw
 Is doubled under each bending knee.

 A long, dim ecstasy holds her life;
 Her world is an infinite shapeless white,
 Till her tongue has curled the last holy drop,
 Then she sinks back into the night,

 Draws and dips her body to heap
 Her sleepy nerves in the great arm-chair,
 Lies defeated and buried deep
 Three or four hours unconscious there.
-- Harold Monro
A very well-known poem, and probably the most popular piece of work Monro
has produced. The beauty lies in the detail and the empathetic observation.
Not a great deal to say about form here, but this is one of those poems that
you suddenly find yourself smiling about. And if you're a feline-fancier,
you're probably purring by now. It has got that indescribable feeling of
what the Teutons call gemutlichkeit, of which 'cosiness' is a hopelessly
inadequate translation.

The Columbia Encyclopaedia has this to say about Monro -

Harold Monro

  1879?1932, English poet, b. Belgium. In 1911 he founded the Poetry Review
  and the following year established the Poetry Bookshop, which became a
  refuge and intellectual center for poets. His Poetry and Drama (1913), a
  successor to the Poetry Review, was discontinued during World War I, but
  Monro reestablished it as Chapbook (1919?25). Both periodicals had great
  influence on the poetical work of the time. His own work, first published
  in 1906, includes Children of Love (1914) and Elm Angel (1930).

  Works : His Collected Poems (introd. by T. S. Eliot, 1933); J. Grant,
  Harold Monro and the Poetry Bookshop (1967).

Harold Monro was associated with the Georgian Poetry school of antebellum
England, of which the Brittanica says -

Georgian poetry

  A variety of lyrical poetry produced in the early 20th century by an
  assortment of British poets, including Lascelles Abercrombie, Hilaire
  Belloc, Edmund Charles Blunden, Rupert Brooke, William Henry Davies, Ralph
  Hodgson, John Drinkwater, James Elroy Flecker, Wilfred Wilson Gibson,
  Robert Graves, Walter de la Mare, Harold Monro (editor of The Poetry
  Review), Siegfried Sassoon, Sir J.C. Squire, and Edward Thomas. Brooke and
  Sir Edward Marsh, wishing to make new poetry accessible to a wider public,
  with Monro, Drinkwater, and Gibson, planned a series of anthologies. To
  this series they applied the name "Georgian" to suggest the opening of a
  new poetic age with the accession in 1910 of George V.

  Five volumes of Georgian Poetry, edited by Marsh, were published between
  1912 and 1922. The real gifts of Brooke, Davies, de la Mare, Blunden, and
  Hodgson should not be overlooked, but, taken as a whole, much of the
  Georgians' work was lifeless. It took inspiration from the countryside and
  nature, and in the hands of less gifted poets, the resulting poetry was
  diluted and middlebrow conventional verse of late Romantic character.
  "Georgian" came to be a pejorative term, used in a sense not intended by
  its progenitors: rooted in its period and looking backward rather than
  forward.

Regards,
Anustup

Links:

We've run one previous poem by Monro: poem #594

16 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

Unknown said...

All the properties of the milk are really important not only for the children but the adult too. The milk contain many vitamin, potassium, calcium and iron.This kind of properties is needed for the people.

buy viagra

Anonymous said...

I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check again
here frequently. I'm quite sure I will learn many new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
Also see my webpage - diets that work

Anonymous said...

The fact is that unless you want to order one online or rub elbows
with diner owners themselves, while they are buying 200 of them in a restaurant
supply store, diner mugs are hard to come by. This is the store to go to for decorations,
stocking stuffers, toys, cleaning supplies, some personal
items and holiday or non-holiday paper products.
All users loved the results they had from using the Magic Bullet Express.



my blog: do gia dung

Anonymous said...

In case you�re having issues locating the powdered
coloring, you will find them about tattoo-supply internet sites.
They may use legitimate postal services to ship drugs internationally without having
to leave their own countries. Right after introduction,
these plastic bottles have dominated the infant earth as a
result of its rewards.

Also visit my website :: www.migbusiness.com

Anonymous said...

Despite vigilant law enforcement efforts and international government cooperation, smugglers
continue to expand their operations. When storing milk, regardless of the volume pumped, it is
always a good idea to store it in small portions (two to four ounces) or (59.

Right after introduction, these plastic bottles have dominated the infant
earth as a result of its rewards.

Review my web site - binh sua cho tre so sinh

Anonymous said...

So they are increasingly invented to the kitchen in china.
While the secretary says this, there are much fewer items to be sold.
I'm usually very successful but this year is proving to be a bit more difficult.

my website - do gia dung

Anonymous said...

Overall the Saitek Obsidian Wireless mouse is
a very good wireless solution for a mouse.
it effectively pulls together a great design combining a
comfortable ergonomic style, with a small and easily carried size.
The mouse is fairly decent, though it does share the limited wireless range.


Also visit my page ... chuột không dây

Anonymous said...

Overall, I'm totally stocked that USB is finally making its way to consumers after a long 10 year hiatus. Furthermore, you can also set Windows login password so that you need not to protect individual files. If the manufacturers have rolled out such a device, then we will definitely put this on the top of our list.

Feel free to visit my website usb 8gb

Anonymous said...

But a ceramic fan heater radiates a good amount of heat that can heat up a small room
or office. Should the fan malfunction, the air conditioning system will not cool
properly. Amnesty garbage cans sat before the gates where all attendees were given a full pat down and concertgoers were encouraged to
ditch any drugs they might have had in these cans without
fear of prosecution by the police.

Here is my homepage; quat dien

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I come across a blog that's both equally educative and
amusing, and without a doubt, you have hit the
nail on the head. The issue is something too few people are
speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I came across this
during my hunt for something concerning this.


My blog site

Anonymous said...

what is a personification in 'milk for the cat'?

Anonymous said...

You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be
really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me.
I'm looking forward for your next post, I'll try to get the hang of it!


Here is my web-site :: medical negligence solicitors

Caroline said...

Helpful once ya news,
thanks a lot ya pa admin has given this good news. Living Room Decorating | Minimalist House Design | Honda HR-V 2015

Post a Comment