The Cat and the Moon

The Cat and the Moon

·         The poem is about a dance and therefore moves rhythmically and repetitively. Strong, simple use of rhyme builds rhythm – songlike

·         Assonance and alliteration are used to create the soft, swift movements and lyrical tone

·         Youth and age

o   Spun around like a top- infantilises the moon, indicative of youth

o   Two close kindred meet/taken a new phase/pass from change to change - Emblems of self and anti self, or of body and soul as reciprocal and coordinated as the cat and the moon. The cat is the ‘normal man’ and the moon is ‘the opposite he seeks perpetually’- aged man seeking youth?

·         Body and soul

o   Are the cat and the moon two conflicting parts of the same person?

·         Love

o   The cat represents Yeats moving repetitively…