By. Alastair Reid
Curiosity
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.
Jonathan Knoll
AP Literature and Composition
Mr. Lane
8 December 2009
“Curiosity” Explication
Did curiosity really kill the cat? This is a question Alastair Reid is answering in
the poem, “Curiosity.” Reid explains that in reality curiosity most likely didn’t kill the
cat, and the cat probably got unlucky. With Reid’s destruction of this popular saying,
Reid is trying to promote curiosity. Reid uses a comparison between cats and dogs to
clear up his reasoning for disagreeing with the phrase, curiosity killed the cat. This poem
creates a theme that in order to live life to the fullest, one needs to take risks. “Curiosity”
completely rejects the well known phrase, curiosity killed the cat, and uses musical
devices, imagery, along with extended metaphor to explain the truth about the cat and to
encourage more curiosity among people.
First, the extended metaphor adds deeper meaning to the theme of this text.
Throughout the poem the extended metaphors are created from the stereotypes of dogs
and cats. The stereotype of dogs and cats is that dogs are more loyal and well behaved,
while cats take risks and can be more independent. Dogs become a metaphor for resisting
change, and a more conservative view point. Cats are metaphors for change and risk
taking in this poem. cats are described as having no desire to continue to lick their paws
and father litters of kittens or simply live a simple and predictable life (3-5). The poem
lists the activities that cats do on a regular basis in order to explain how these activities
do not interest or fulfill cat’s needs for excitement, change, and unpredictability. The cats
want change in their lives and cannot deal with a boring or patterned lifestyle. The boring
lifestyle of dogs is written, and gives examples that one can relate to. For example, “Do
Knoll 2
not endear cats to those doggy circles/where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good
lunches” (11-12). The activities that dogs are guilty of are listed to explain their
predictable, simple lifestyle compared to that of cats, making them metaphors for
opposite ideas. The metaphors of the dogs and cats work together to create many
different themes. With these two extended metaphors, “Curiosity” gains the purpose of
encouraging risk taking and curiosity to all people.
Musical devices add rhythm and connect certain points in the poem. Consonance
emphasizes points of the poem that have important meaning to the theme. The words
“likely” and “predictably” are emphasized together by their consonance, “ly.” These
words are two keys developing the theme of the poem. Together they create the first
reasoning why the curiosity did not kill the cat. The cat was more “likely” to be unlucky
than die from curiosity, and the reasoning for being curious was to avoid a
“predictabl[e]” lifestyle (1 and 5). Another example of consonance is the words
“prevails” and “tails” (13-14). The “ails” sound is repeated here, and it emphasizes the
meaning of the two words. “Prevails” speaks of the end result of being a dog and doing
all of the activities that a dog enjoys and how pointless they are (13). “Tails” creates the
feeling of pointlessness when it is used because it is described as the final result of all the
actions a dog does, and the life of wagging heads and tails is not a very enjoyable one to
live (14). These two words work together to prove the point that people should not want
to live like a dog does. Ending masculine rhymes are also used to articulate the
importance of being a cat. The most powerful usage is the words “tell” and “hell” (3940). These words show the effects of being curious and how there are more positives than
negatives in being curious. “Hell” is known to be an unpleasant place, but in the context
of the poem “hell” was not
Knoll 3
simply unpleasant, and it was an adventurous and dangerous time in someone’s life that
he or she can “tell” stories about if they dare to be curious (39-40). The different musical
devices used in “Curiosity” bring together words to create stronger meaning out of them
to which the poem benefits from.
Perhaps the most important literary device in this poem is playing with the
connotation of words. The connotations show the differences in lifestyles between the
cats and the dogs. “Contradictory” creates a negative connotation and point a bad light on
whoever it is describing; however, in “Curiosity” the negative connotation is flipped into
a positive matter (32). The poem reasons that being “contradictory” is not always a bad
thing because it shows a person not thinking about all of their actions and simply living
their life the way they want to, being a cat (32). The poem is saying it is okay to
contradict oneself sometimes and that people need to live life and not worry about how
others see oneself as much. The biggest use of connotation is using forms of “dying”
throughout the poem. This word is the absolute worst thing that could happen to someone
when taking a risk. “Dying” brings a connotation that is sad, traumatic, and final (41).
The poem plays off of this connotation to prove that you will die even if you do not take
risks, and perhaps die even more times inside than a risk taker ever will. The poem
reinforces the theme by stating the fact that “death” is inevitable, and people need to take
risks and be curious to live life to the fullest. The connotations used in the poem create
the strong points of Reid’s arguments and bring attention to the importance of the theme.
“Curiosity” by Alastair Reid is a poem that gives others advice on how to live
their lives. The literary devices that are used in the poem add deeper meanings and
reinforce the theme of the poem. With the realization of the extended metaphors, the
poem becomes more than just being a cat or a dog, and it more easily relates to the life on
Knoll 4
people. The musical devices used help to connect words together to strengthen the point
that the poem is getting across. The connotations are also important without them the
dogs and cats would not seem to have drastically different lifestyles. By using a
combination of different literary devices Reid achieves his goal of getting across the
important theme, taking risks allows one to live their live to the fullest. In life, curiosity
may have played a role in killing the cat; however, lack of curiosity has caused the dog to
die many times
Knoll 5
Works Cited
Reid, Alastair. “Curiosity.” Perrine’s Literature Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Greg
Johnson and Thomas R. Arp. 9th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2006. 749-750.
Date
Name
Topic/Title
Area
Ideas and Content
Organization
Word Choice
Sentence Fluency
Voice
Lower Order Concerns
Presentation (Research Guide)
Insight
Support
Introduction and Conclusion
TOTAL
GRADE out of 50
Score
Comments
9
10
8
7
8
7
10
9
9
10
87
43 I think you have a good understanding of the poem, but your insights are
lost a bit in the voice you use to analyze the poem; in many parts it reads
more like an early draft rather than a graded draft; revise LOCs