Excerpt from Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes Thomas Gray, 1716-1771
The hapless nymph with wonder saw.
A whisker first and then a claw, 20
With many an ardent wish,
She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat's averse to fish?
Presumptuous maid! with looks intent 25
Again she stretched, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)
The slippery verge her feet beguiled,
She tumbled headlong in. 30
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mewed to every watery god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard. 35
A favorite has no friend!
Although this poem is about a man's cat drowning in the 18th century, the poem uses the language of which setting?
A)
ancient Greek myth
B)
American cowboys
C)
ancient Chinese stories
D)
American Indian folklore