The Cats & The Dogs

"Curiosity"

Alastair Reed

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.

Curiosity killed the cat. This phrase is perhaps one of the most widely recognizable idiom in the English language. Traditionally, this idiom has rather negative connotation. It is used to dissuade children from rummaging through other people's things and to prevent mischievous teenagers from trespassing late at night. Poet Alastair Reid presents the idea of curiosity in a different light, more positive light. "Curiosity" by Alastair Reid turns the well-known idiom on its head portraying it not only as a positive quality but also as one that is vital to life.

It can be deduced from reading the poem that the speaker in "Curiosity" is an upper middle aged man who is looking back on life and its meaning and purpose. His audience is younger people who are struggling to find themselves and discover the path they are meant to follow through life. The poem's tone is a clever mixture of passionate and cynical.

At the start of the first stanza of the poem, one would assume they are about to read a cute poem about a curious cat. Phrases such as "licking paws" (4) and "fathering litter on litter of kitten" (4-5) indicate that the subject of the poem is simply a cat. However, if the reader looks a bit deeper into the words he or she will realize that the curious cat is a symbol for a man. The final word of the first stanza, "predictably" (5), is notable as it inflicts the speaker's opinion into the sentence it concludes.

As the first stanza becomes the second, the idea of curiosity is explored. The heart of stanza two includes a listing of things that those with curiosity do and a listing of what those who are curious avoid. It is stated that those who are curious do not participate is "doggy circles where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches are the order of things" (11-12). This sentence includes the first mention of dogs. In this poem dogs are symbolic for people who are not curious; those who are satisfied with mundane lives. The phrases "suitable wives" (12) and "good lunches" (12) give off a kind of 1950s suburban housewife feel which contributes to the claim that curious cats live more interesting lives.

"Face it. Curiosity will not cause us to die -- only lack of it will" (15-17) perfectly describes the central purpose of the poem in one sentence. In addition to solidifying the purpose of the poem, it also connects the ideas of the first two stanzas and last two stanzas. The first two stanzas are rather ambiguous about whether the poem is actually about cats and dogs or if cats and dogs are symbolic for people who are curious and people who are not. The last two stanzas are clearly about people. The third stanza includes the idea that cats, or those who are curious, are not afraid to explore that "improbable country" (20). The speaker makes the claim that not being curious will "kill us all" (23). By using the phrase would kill instead of alternatives such as would hurt or would induce boredom, the speaker makes the powerful statement that a life without curiosity will literally kill a person.

Dogs think that cats are crazy and unrealistic. They say that "cats love too much, are irresponsible are changeable, marry too many wives, desert their children, chill dinner tables with tales of their nine lives" (26-30). Following this lists of grievances about the whims of cats, is a statement which reflects the opinion of the speaker and voices his support for cats. He says that cats are lucky because they live lives of purpose. The speaker says that cats are prepared "to die and die again and again each time with no less pain" (34-36). The repetition of the word die and the inclusion of the word pain indicates how intensely cats live their lives thus creating lives that are full.

At the conclusion of the poem, the idea of death is emphasized. Stylistically, this is interesting as death indicates the end of life and the idea of it is presented at the end of the poem. The final statement is that in order to live, one must be willing to die. Curiosity killed the cat, but that is what made him live.