Poem (As the cat)

Poem (As the cat): analysis

Introduction

"Poem (As the cat)" follows a cat as it climbs over a cupboard and steps down into an empty flowerpot. The whole poem is one sentence of twelve very short lines. It has no punctuation at all.

The poem records a single small movement and nothing else. Its interest lies in how the lines slow the reader down, so that the cat's careful steps are felt one at a time. The plain one-word title, Poem, invites the reader to see the cat's movement and the poem's movement as alike.

Summary

The first stanza sets the scene in lines 1–3. A cat is climbing "over / the top of" something. The stanza is a clause beginning with "As", so the main action has not yet arrived. It ends on the preposition "of", with the object still to come. The reader is left, like the cat, at the edge.

The second stanza names the object in line 4. The cat is climbing over "the jamcloset", a cupboard for jam. Lines 5–6 then describe how it moves. First comes "the right / forefoot". The stanza stops before saying what that foot does.

The third stanza completes the movement in six lines. The foot moves "carefully", and "then the hind" follows, as the feet "stepped down / into the pit of / the empty / flowerpot". The adjective "empty" has line 11 almost to itself. The last line names the flowerpot. The sentence ends there without a full stop, and nothing is said about what the cat does next.

Themes and meaning

The main subject is close attention to an ordinary moment. Nothing happens beyond a cat climbing down. The poem gives this small act the same care the cat gives its steps. It suggests that a domestic scene is worth looking at slowly and exactly.

The poem is also about care and balance. The word "carefully" stands alone in line 7. The cat places "first the right / forefoot", then "the hind". Each step is tested before the next. The short lines make the reader move with the same caution.

The title, Poem, can be read as a comparison. The cat moves step by step, and so does the reader through the broken lines. On this reading the poem is about how a poem itself moves, line by line, across a gap. One reader makes exactly this point, calling it an image of a poem as the cat.

The ending has an open quality. The cat steps into "the pit of / the empty / flowerpot". Some readers find a feeling of emptiness here. Others insist it is simply a cat and a pot. The text gives the word "empty" a line of its own, which invites the first reading without requiring it.

Tone

The tone is quiet, neutral and attentive. The speaker never comments on the cat or states a feeling. There is only exact description in the past tense.

The one word that suggests an attitude is "carefully". It describes the cat, but it also describes the speaker's way of watching. The pace is slow and patient throughout. The ending does not rise or fall in feeling. It simply stops when the cat's feet reach "the empty / flowerpot", which can feel either calm or slightly bare.

Form and structure

The poem has 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 3, 3 and 6 lines. The lines are very short, from 2 to 5 syllables. There is no regular metre and no rhyme.

The only sound repetition at line ends is the word "of", which closes both line 3 and line 10. The poem is one unpunctuated sentence. Almost every line break splits a phrase, as when line 3 ends on "of" and line 4 gives "the jamcloset". The last stanza is twice as long as the others, as the cat completes its descent.

Poetic devices

suspended syntax line 1

As the cat The poem opens with a dependent clause. The main verb does not arrive until line 9, so the sentence hangs in the air like the cat.

enjambment line 3

the top of The line and the stanza end on "of". The reader must cross a gap to find what the cat is climbing over.

isolated word line 7

carefully The adverb fills a line alone. Its placement makes the reader pause, just as the cat pauses.

ellipsis line 8

then the hind The word "foot" is left out. The reader supplies it, and the line moves as quickly as the second foot follows the first.

enjambment line 10

into the pit of Another break on "of". The repeated ending echoes line 3 and delays the final object.

imagery line 11

the empty The adjective is held apart from its noun. The emptiness is felt for a moment before the reader learns it belongs to a flowerpot.

consonance line 12

flowerpot The "p" and "t" of "pot" echo "pit" in line 10. The soft repeated sounds suit the cat's light steps.

Words worth knowing

jamcloset

A cupboard for storing jam and preserves. It is written here as one word.

forefoot

One of an animal's front feet.

hind

Short here for the hind foot, one of the back feet.

pit

The hollow inside of the flowerpot.

Context

"Poem (As the cat)" is by William Carlos Williams (1883–1963). It was published in a book in 1934. It has been on americanpoems.com since 2003 and was a Poem of the Day on May 3, 2004. Readers have left 14 comments on it, from 2004 to 2010.

What readers have said

• danny points to the title as the key and reads the poem as an image of poetry itself: a poem as the cat. danny, 2005
• Jen notices that the three stanzas look like small pad shapes, like the footprints of a cat stepping carefully. Jen, 2005
• Davey reads it as about catness, a cat moving softly and carefully to safety, and enjoys the repeated p and t sounds. Davey, 2006
• Andrea senses an empty feeling in the cat's life, and perhaps in the poet's own. Andrea, 2004
• Cool Man reads the empty flowerpot as a sexual symbol, a flower that is missing. Cool Man, 2005
• Courtney rejects any symbolic reading and insists the poem is simply about a cat the poet saw. Courtney, 2007