The Tom-Cat

The Tom-Cat: By Don Marquis

At midnight in the alley
A tom-cat comes to wail,
And he chants the hate of a million years
As he swings his snaky tail.

Malevolent, bony, brindled,5
Tiger and devil and bard,
His eyes are coals from the middle of Hell
And his heart is black and hard.

He twists and crouches and capers
And bares his curved sharp claws,10
And he sings to the stars of the jungle nights
Ere cities were, or laws.

Beast from a world primeval,
He and his leaping clan,
When the blotched red moon leers over the roofs15
Give voice to their scorn of man.

He will lie on a rug to-morrow
And lick his silky fur,
And veil the brute in his yellow eyes
And play he's tame, and purr.20

But at midnight in the alley
He will crouch again and wail,
And beat the time for his demon's song
With the swing of his demon's tail.

Activity 1 – Vocabulary

Complete the crossword puzzle using the clues below:

Activity 2 – Questions

1.“As he swings his snaky tail” [Line 4]

Why do you think the poet compares the cat’s tail to a snake?

2.Why does the poet describe the cat’s eyes as “coals from the middle of Hell”? [Line 7]

3.Which actions of the cat remind us of demons?

4.According to stanza 3, what are cats’ original habitat (territory)?

5.Which animals form part of his “leaping clan”? [Line 14]

6.How does the tone of stanza 5 differ from the rest of the poem?

7.What is a “rug”? [line 17]

8.What do you understand by the words: “veil the brute in his yellow eyes”? [Line 19]

9.“And play he’s tame” [Line 20]
What do these words tell us about the cat’s behavior during the day?

10.Find other sounds made by the cat in the poem which conveys an opposite emotion to the cat’s “purr” in stanza 5.

Teacher’s Guide

Activity 1 – Vocabulary

Across

2. cry (stanza 1) Wail

5. monster, beast (stanza 5)brute

7. squats, bends down (stanza 3) crouches

9. spiteful, wicked, nasty (Stanza 2) Malevolent

10. family (stanza 4) clan

11. red stained (stanza 4) blotched

13. cover (stanza 5) veil

14. sings, recites repeatedly (stanza 1) chants

Down

1. primitive, ancient, prehistoric (stanza 4) primeval

3. Brown (Stanza 2) brindled

4. mockery, scoffing at (stanza 4) scorn

6. grins, smirks, sneers (stanza 4) leers

8. Before (stanza 3) Ere

11. poet (Stanza 2) bard

12. jumps about (stanza 3) capers

Activity 2 – Questions

1.To show how evil he is

2.His eyes glow at night, like the fires of hell – they look evil

3.He twists, crouches and capers – line 9

4.The jungle

5.Lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, etc.

6.The tone of stanza 5 is peaceful, loving, etc – the tone of the rest of the poem is wild, evil, hatred, revenge, anger, etc.

7.A mat/ carpet

8.He is covering up/ disguising his evil nature

9.He’s pretending to be tame, but he’s wild.

10.“wail”, “chants”