Compare and Contrast ‘the Early Purges’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘Cat’s Funeral’ by E. V. Rieu
Essay: Compare and contrast ‘The Early Purges’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘Cat’s Funeral’ by E. V. Rieu
‘The Early Purges’ and ‘Cat’s Funeral’ are quite alike in that they are both about how a cat dies but at the same time they are extremely different. Even though they are about cats, the two poems have a different structure, different type of language and completely different emotions.
One of the big differences between ‘The Early Purges’ and ‘Cat’s Funeral’ is the way the cats die. In ‘The Early Purges’ Heaney describes the way that the kittens died in a vile way, ‘saw kittens drown’, Dan Taggart drowned them in a bucket, ‘Dan Taggart pitched them, ‘the scraggy wee shits.’ Where as in ‘Cat’s Funeral’ it doesn’t actually tell us how the cat died but from E. V. Rieu describing how fulfilled the cats life was by saying ‘no more to..’ five times with what the cat used to do, it sounds like the cat died peacefully of old age. Another comparison between the two poems is the sort of lives that each of the cats lived. In ‘The Early Purges’ the cats were only young kittens that had barely lived, where as in ‘Cat’s Funeral’ the cat seems to be quite old as it ‘watched birds stir’ which tells us that the cat was getting old and lazy so she didn’t chase the birds anymore, she just watched them. In the poems, the disposals of the cat’s bodies have a completely different attitude towards them. In ‘The Early Purges’ Dan Taggart ‘sluiced them out on the dunghill’ this tells us that Dan doesn’t even care were they are kept because they are open for any predators to come along. But in ‘Cat’s Funeral’ it repeats ‘bury her deep’ meaning that the owner of the cat wanted the cat to be safe, deep in the earth and kept away from and predators that may could dig up the ground. Also from ‘safe in the earth’s cold keep’ supports this point as ‘keep’ also means the safest part in a castle. The use of language is very different in the two poems. For example, in ‘The
‘The Early Purges’ and ‘Cat’s Funeral’ are quite alike in that they are both about how a cat dies but at the same time they are extremely different. Even though they are about cats, the two poems have a different structure, different type of language and completely different emotions.
One of the big differences between ‘The Early Purges’ and ‘Cat’s Funeral’ is the way the cats die. In ‘The Early Purges’ Heaney describes the way that the kittens died in a vile way, ‘saw kittens drown’, Dan Taggart drowned them in a bucket, ‘Dan Taggart pitched them, ‘the scraggy wee shits.’ Where as in ‘Cat’s Funeral’ it doesn’t actually tell us how the cat died but from E. V. Rieu describing how fulfilled the cats life was by saying ‘no more to..’ five times with what the cat used to do, it sounds like the cat died peacefully of old age. Another comparison between the two poems is the sort of lives that each of the cats lived. In ‘The Early Purges’ the cats were only young kittens that had barely lived, where as in ‘Cat’s Funeral’ the cat seems to be quite old as it ‘watched birds stir’ which tells us that the cat was getting old and lazy so she didn’t chase the birds anymore, she just watched them. In the poems, the disposals of the cat’s bodies have a completely different attitude towards them. In ‘The Early Purges’ Dan Taggart ‘sluiced them out on the dunghill’ this tells us that Dan doesn’t even care were they are kept because they are open for any predators to come along. But in ‘Cat’s Funeral’ it repeats ‘bury her deep’ meaning that the owner of the cat wanted the cat to be safe, deep in the earth and kept away from and predators that may could dig up the ground. Also from ‘safe in the earth’s cold keep’ supports this point as ‘keep’ also means the safest part in a castle. The use of language is very different in the two poems. For example, in ‘The