Concrete Cat | Grade 12 | Heritage Of Words | Full Summary & All Answer Question.

Full Summary & All Questions & Answers.

Concrete Cat

Points to Understand

• In this poem, the poet gives priority to “howness” over whatness of a poem.

•      It is a imagistic poem.

•  The proper placement of letters and words gives a concrete picture of a cat.

•    Instead of describing about a cat, the speaker makes an image of the cat.

•  The poem doesn’t concern much with emotions, ideas and ordinary language.

•      The poet mentions that visual image of poem conveys message of the language aspires towards poetry and becomes figurative.

•      The poet views that physical structure of the poem conveys the message of the text.

•      Instead of describing about the cat, the poet creates an image of cat.

•      This poem is very funny or humorous.

•      The cat’s middle words “stripe” creates a pun.

•      Pun is a figure of speech having double meanings.

•                          Stripe means a long band of colour in the body of the cat.

•  Tripe, on the other hand, means tissue of mouse which has been eaten by cat.

•      Because of arrangements of words, the poem looks like puzzle of the children.

•   The arrangement of letter ‘U’ shows the shape of tongue which is moving towards dish.

•  The poet has left spaces in the tail to show white and black colour.

Summary

Dorthi Charles’s “Concrete Cat” is a “concrete poem”, a poem which is made for the eye. The physical appearance of this poem is our chief concern. We neither concern much with the ideas or emotions nor with the language. The “reduced language” of the words which gives the shape of the concrete cat is significant. The poet may be telling us about a cat, but may be showing its “catness” in action. The capital letters an in ear, Y in eye and U in mouth stand for erected ears, wide open eyes and the tongue of the cat respectively. The pun in the cat’s middle stripe is the only where language aspires toward poetry and becomes figurative.

     1.   What possible pun might be seen in the cat's middle strip?

·       The pun in the cat's middle stripe is the only place where the figurative language gives poetic meaning. In the middle stripe of the cat, the two words with two different meaning are joined humorously. The possible pun that might be seen in the cat's middle stripe is that it can be read as "stripe" meaning a long band of colour in the body of the cat and as 'stripe' meaning stomach tissue of a mouse which the cat has eaten.

         2.   Would you call 'Concrete Cat' a poem?

Or, Justify 'Concrete Cat' as a concrete poem?

Or, Describe 'Concrete Cat' as a concrete poem.

Or, Concrete Cat is an example of a 'Concrete Poem'. How?

·       'Concrete Cat' is a different type of poem. It is a 'Concrete poem' which is made for the eye. This poem doesn't concern much with emotion, ideas and ordinary language. Its language is the 'reduce language' of the words which give the concrete shape of the cat. There is a pun in the middle stripe of the cat where the language aspires towards poetry and becomes figurative. Thus, 'Concrete Cat' is an example of a 'Concrete Poem'.