Cats are one of the world's most adorable and fascinating creatures. Many poets have owned cats over the years and many have written poems about them. Our editors curated this collection of interesting cat poems. Fellow cat lovers will also enjoy our cat quotes collection.
- "She Sights a Bird" by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson's poem about a cat hunting a bird contains the lines:"Her Jaws stir — twitching — hungry —
Her Teeth can hardly stand —
She leaps, but Robin leaped the first —"
- "The Naming of Cats" by T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot offers advice on cats named in his poem. It contains the lines:"But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers,"
- "The Kitten and Falling Leaves" by William Wordsworth
Wordsworth's poem contains the lines: "ee the kitten on the wall, sporting with the leaves that fall, Withered leaves—one—two—and three, from the lofty elder-tree!"
- "To Mrs. Reynold's Cat" by John Keats
Keats cat poem contains the lines: "Those velvet ears - but prithee do not stick Thy latent talons in me, and up-raise Thy gentle mew, and tell me all thy frays"
- "Ella Mason and Her Elevent Cats" by Sylvia Plath
Plath's poem begins with the lines: "Old Ella Mason keeps cats, eleven at last count, In her ramshackle house off Somerset Terrace;"
- "Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat" by Thomas Gray
Gray's poem contains the lines: "Her conscious tail her joy declared; The fair round face, the snowy beard, The velvet of her paws,"
- "February" by Margaret Atwood
Atwood's cat poem includes the lines: "In the pewter mornings, the cat, a black fur sausage with yellow Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries to get onto my head. It’s his way of telling whether or not I’m dead."
- "Macavity The Mystery Cat" by T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot's awesome cat poem includes the lines:"He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there! "
- "Cat's Dream" by Pablo Neruda
Neruda's poem starts with the lines:"How neatly a cat sleeps,
sleeps with its paws and its posture,
sleeps with its wicked claws,"
- "Jubilate Agno" by Christopher Smart
Smart's famous poem about Jeoffry the cat begins with the lines:"For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him."
- "The Sphinx" by Oscar Wilde
Wilde's poem includes the lines, "And let me touch those curving claws of yellow ivory and grasp The tail that like a monstrous Asp coils round your heavy velvet paws!"
