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Taken literally, the poem gives cats the humanistic lives which is confusing.
Yet if we look for the underlying meaning, the author seems to be advising the reader to be a risk taker like the cats are or else life is worthless and meaningless.
may have killed the cat; more likely
the cat was just unlucky, or else curious
to see what death was like, having no cause
to go on licking paws, or fathering
litter on litter of kittens, predictably.
Nevertheless, to be curious
is dangerous enough. To distrust
what is always said, what seems,
to ask odd questions, interfere in dreams,
leave home, smell rats, have hunches
do not endear cats to those doggy circles
where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches
are the order of things, and where prevails
much wagging of incurious heads and tails.
Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die–
only lack of it will.
Never to want to see
the other side of the hill
or that improbable country
where living is an idyll
(although a probable hell)
would kill us all.
Only the curious
have, if they live, a tale
worth telling at all.
Dogs say cats love too much, are irresponsible,
are changeable, marry too many wives,
desert their children, chill all dinner tables
with tales of their nine lives.
Well, they are lucky. Let them be
nine-lived and contradictory,
curious enough to change, prepared to pay
the cat price, which is to die
and die again and again,
each time with no less pain.
A cat minority of one
is all that can be counted on
to tell the truth. And what cats have to tell
on each return from hell
is this: that dying is what the living do,
that dying is what the loving do,
and that dead dogs are those who do not know
that dying is what, to live, each has to do.
The tone is pedagogic, meaning to teach the reader something.
Reid obviously prefers the cats' way to living to the dogs', meaning that he wants his readers to live a fulfilling life by taking risks
"Idyll although a probable hell"
Curiosity is a necessity to live life in the fullest. Without curiosity, life is meaningless and too safe
Alastair Reid was a Scottish poet. His poems
were known for being very light hearted.
He was born in Galloway, Scotland and was
the son of a clergyman. In World War II, he served in the Royal Navy decoding ciphers.
"Curiosity - by Alastair Reid - What Does It All Mean?" TheVillageSmith. N.p., 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 May 2015.
"Alastair Reid." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 May 2015.
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