{"id":260739,"date":"2024-04-29T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=260739"},"modified":"2024-04-23T16:28:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T15:28:07","slug":"a-gift-to-cat-lovers-and-soul-mates-a-poem-of-t-s-eliot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/04\/a-gift-to-cat-lovers-and-soul-mates-a-poem-of-t-s-eliot\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gift to Cat-Lovers and Soul Mates: A Poem of T.S. Eliot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Naming of Cats<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
T. S. Eliot\u00a0 <\/span><\/a>1888 – 1965<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It isn\u2019t just one of your holiday games;<\/span>
\nYou may think at first I\u2019m as mad as a hatter<\/span>
\nWhen I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.<\/span>
\nFirst of all, there\u2019s the name that the family use daily,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,<\/span>
\nSuch as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey\u2014<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All of them sensible everyday names.<\/span>
\nThere are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:<\/span>
\nSuch as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter\u2014<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But all of them sensible everyday names,<\/span>
\nBut I tell you, a cat needs a name that\u2019s particular,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A name that\u2019s peculiar, and more dignified,<\/span>
\nElse how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?<\/span>
\nOf names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,<\/span>
\nSuch as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum\u2014<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Names that never belong to more than one cat.<\/span>
\nBut above and beyond there\u2019s still one name left over,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that is the name that you never will guess;<\/span>
\nThe name that no human research can discover\u2014<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.<\/span>
\nWhen you notice a cat in profound meditation,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The reason, I tell you, is always the same:<\/span>
\nHis mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His ineffable effable<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Effanineffable<\/span>
\nDeep and inscrutable singular name.<\/span><\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Born in Missouri on 26 Sep 1888, T. S. Eliot is the author of <\/em>The Waste Land, which is now considered by many to be the most influential poetic work of the twentieth century.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Submitted by TRANSCEND Member Prof. Richard Falk<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Naming of Cats<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":260740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868,3283],"class_list":["post-260739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry","tag-t-s-eliot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260742,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260739\/revisions\/260742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}