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Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats: with illustrations by Rebecca Ashdown: 1 (Faber Children's Classics)

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I am more and more doubtful of my ability to write a successful book of this kind, and I had rather find out early that I can’t do it, than waste a lot of time for nothing. And this sort of thing is flat if it is flat, than serious verse. Nobody wants to make a fool of himself when he might be better employed.’ These poems are a treat to read. I was able without much effort to project them on to my cat. The poems also reminded me of my young far away granddaughters. I hope to take and read this little book to them on my next visit. Our Family Station in St Pancras is open from 10.00-12.00 every Friday and we're continuing to welcome schools, as well as families and adult learners to our courses and access events. All our in-person and livestreamed events are going ahead. Other services

Eliot wrote the poems in the 1930s and included them, under his assumed name "Old Possum", in letters to his godchildren. Eliot tried to persuade the poet Ralph Hodgson to illustrate the poems but failed. [2]Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1sted.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p.133. ISBN 0-85112-250-7. The book became a famous musical and it is about a varied, eccentric menagerie of cats. The cats are recognizably feline and also manage to stand in for human types. The fourteen original poems tell an organized story with the first poem, "The Naming of Cats" setting the stage and the now penultimate poem, "The Ad-dressing of Cats" summarizing the story and bringing matters to a close. In between are 12 poems featuring a range of now famous cat characters.

urn:oclc:861379846 Scandate 20100430182846 Scanner scribe9.sanfrancisco.archive.org Scanningcenter sanfrancisco Worldcat (source edition) Eliot received many poetical responses to Practical Cats, including one from a Mrs Skinker who wrote him a letter in rhyme. Eliot, naturally, replied with his own rhyming letter:

Cyber incident

In an audio recording made by the British Council in the spring of 1957, Eliot was asked if he would record his Practical Cats with them, as he had done ten years previously with Four Quartets. It was suggested that Cats might be easier to read than the Quartets, but Eliot disagreed, replying The Ad-dressing of Cats - '...You now have learned enough to see That cats are much like you and me ...' In the film Logan's Run, Logan and Jessica meet an old man in the ruins of the United States Senate Chamber during their search for Sanctuary. The Old Man has many cats and refers to the poem "The Naming of Cats", explaining that each cat has three names: one common, one fancy and one that only the cat knows. Later the Old Man refers to one cat in particular, "Gus", short for "Asparagus", and goes on to recite parts of "Macavity: the Mystery Cat". An embroidery made by a young T. S. Eliot hinted at things to come. The embroidery, made in 1894, shows a ribbon-collared cat ready to pounce on a ball of wool. It’s believed Eliot first put pen to paper with his cats in a 1931 letter to his young godson, Tom Faber, who had written to Eliot about his cat. ‘I am glad you have a Cat’ Eliot wrote, ‘but I do not believe it is So remarkable a cat as My cat. My Cat is a Lilliecat Hubvsouly… ITS NAME IS JELLYLORUM’. There followed further letters to Eliot’s godson introducing the Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats, and the Practical Cat who can be seen trying out country life pursuits with Eliot in the drawings illustrating the letter. Between 1936 and 1938, poems were written and sent to friends and their children for comment, before their eventual inclusion in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. T. S. Eliot and the Practical Cat ‘go in for COUNTRY LIFE’ in a letter to Tom Faber, 7 May 1931

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter When I tell you, a cat must have three different names. The choice of words and the feelings you get after reading every poem about different types of cats was a pure joy! It was whimsical and a wild ride and I enjoyed every moment! A algunos les causó extrañeza que Eliot, censurado por algunos poemas, escribiese algo para niños, pero , claro, un gato tiene más de un nombre. De hecho tiene tres: el que le dan y todos conocen, después uno peculiar que le da orgullo, y luego está aquel, el secreto, que solamente éste conoce... A lot of the scale seems off, and there is a demented aspect to the production design. All of this is definitely deliberate, and does make for one of the strangest movies I have seen in a long time, even though it is based on such a well-known book. Pero, sea como sea, arranca reconocimiento a cualquier conocedor de gatos -amante o no de estos - y una sonrisa.

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You can also still join BIPC events and webinars and access one-to-one support. See what's available at the British Library in St Pancras or online and in person via BIPCs in libraries across London. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) is a collection of whimsical light poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It serves as the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical Cats. Eliot was worried about the poems’ reception, wanting them to be a success in their own right, and wrote to Geoffrey Faber in July 1939, ‘I was so anxious that the Cats should flourish, if at all, on their own merits, and not as a TSE curio, that I would have asked that it be published anonymously had I thought that fair to the publishers; it is intended for a NEW public, but I am afraid cannot dispense with the old one.’ Eliot couldn’t have foreseen the immense success of Cats the musical, but he did see Practical Cats as crucial to his own financial prospects. A month before publication, in September 1939, he confided to John Hayward, ‘My financial future… seems to depend on CATS’. The Tombs, a bar and restaurant in Washington, D.C., is named after the fictional establishment mentioned in the poem "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town". [8] Comparable work [ edit ]

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