Mr. Mistoffelees

Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 1938

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Study Guide

Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Rhyme, Alliteration, and Repetition

The poem rhymes throughout, with some common rhyme schemes like the abbab in Lines 1 -5:

“You ought to know Mr. Mistoffelees!

“The Original Conjuring Cat—

(There can be no doubt about that).

Please listen to me and don’t scoff. All his

Inventions are off his own bat”

Or rhyming couplets (aa) in Lines 14-15:

“The greatest magicians have something to learn

From Mr. Mistoffelees’ Conjuring Turn.”

The meter of the lines is irregular, and the poem lacks any formal stanzaic structure: It is divided into two rough sections, almost like the form a prose poem might take. The juxtaposition of the perfect rhyming lines with a less traditional prosaic structure gives the poem an interesting, weird energy, and reveals Eliot’s poetic ingenuity.

Alliterations—the repetition of sounds or sound patterns—such as “conjuring cat” (Line 2), “a cat so clever” (Line 21), and “merely misplaced” (Line 34) abound in the poem, giving it an easy musicality. The use of alliteration is also important in children’s verse since alliteration can function as a mnemonic device, making the poem memorable or easy to learn for recitation. Repetition adds to this quality, with the refrain “And we all say: OH!” recurring throughout the poem. The rhyming refrain makes the poem inherently adaptable for performance. The poem uses repetition in other ways as well, such as in the second section where almost every line between 23-29 begins with the phrases “He can” or “He is,” adding an incantatory quality to the descriptions.

Hyperbole

As Mr. Mistoffelees is compared to the greatest magicians of the world, hyperbole is an essential literary device in the poem. Hyperbole is the intentional overexaggerating of particular details to elicit a response from the reader; hyperbolic statements in poetry or prose are not meant by the writer to be literally taken by the reader. In “Mr. Mistoffelees,” Eliot deliberately exaggerates the feats of his central feline figure to heighten the drama and to highlight the text’s inherent irony and humor. Interestingly, the hyperbole is not sprinkled through the poem in moderation; it forms the poem’s central conceit, as can be seen is Lines 6-13:

“There’s no such Cat in the metropolis;

He holds all the patent monopolies

For performing surprising illusions

And creating eccentric confusions.

At prestidigitation

And at legerdemain

He’ll defy examination

And deceive you again.”

The prolonged use of the hyperbole is a feature of nonsense literary verse, where the very universe of the poem is hyperbolic, such as in “The Owl and the Pussycat” where an owl and a pussycat decide to marry. Eliot uses similar hyperbolic conventions throughout many of the poems comprising Old Possum’s Tale of Practical Cats.

Humor

Humor and whimsy predominate the poem, adding to its appeal for younger and older readers alike. Even the poem’s tone is mock-serious, when the poet insists readers not scoff at his praise of Mr. Mistoffelees. The description of Mr. Mistoffelees’s antics are underlined with warm-hearted comedy, while much of the poem’s humor is derived from a comedy of errors of perception. For instance, when the audience hears Mr. Mistoffelees purring from two places at the same time, the text slyly inserts the suggestion, “[a]t least we all heard somebody who purred” (Line 50), suggesting the presence of two cats—or even the purr coming from a sleeping family member.

The greatest comical reveal is the production of the seven kittens, which upturns previously held ideas about Mr. Mistoffelees. Here, Eliot plays on a common occurrence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in London: A family adopted a cat and gave it a male name, only to later discover that their assumptions were flawed when the cat produced a litter of kittens. The reader may question whether the family ever any notion had that Mr. Mistoffelees was actually female, or whether they were all too amused with her tricks and sleights to pay her gender any real mind.