Dad and the Cat and the Tree Summary

This poem tells the story of a humorous encounter. One early morning, a cat attempted to climb a tree but failed and became trapped. The family's father assumed responsibility for assisting the cat in descending. His wife warns him not to fall, but he is too self-assured and disregards her.

Biography of Kit Wright

Kit Wright (born in 1944) is the author of more than 25 books, including both children's and adult works. She has won numerous honours, including the Arts Council Writers' Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award, and (jointly) the Heinemann Award. After receiving an Oxford scholarship, he served as a lecturer at a Canadian university before returning to England and taking a job with the Poetry Society. He currently works as a writer full-time.

As in "Sonnet for Dick," which begins with stiff-lipped constraint - the dead man was "a useful number six who could whack it about" - the sadness in the poem, once acknowledged, is all the more potent. His poetry can flow elegantly across the tensions between restraint and emotion. Similar to this, one of the pleasures of the poetry "Red Boots On," a wonderful glimpse of joy in the snow, is seeing the poet's enthusiastically marching girlfriend through the speaker's more doubtful perspective.

An illustration of what is meant by "well-spoken" is Wright's reading voice. He teases himself for it in "How the Wild South-East Was Lost," which he opens as an effort "to describe my childhood in a way that it had been other than soft," demonstrating his acute awareness of the preconceptions this may cause. Another type of introduction explains the references, sources of inspiration, and allusions made in the poetry or song. One of the highlights, "The Orbison Consolations," advises the singer of "Only the Lonely" to temper his exaggeration by listing a variety of other persons who, up till "lastly the ghastly / Know the way you feel tonight," can empathize with him.

Wright has been linked to Betjeman because of his love of rhyming, and his casual approach to formal elements shows why. While some poets savour that, others seduce us into a sense of joie de vivre before shocking us. This is best illustrated in the vicious satire "I Found South African Breweries Most Hospitable" about the 1980s English cricket team who broke the boycott. This interpretation demonstrates Wright's ability to be, in the words of poet Anthony Wilson, "funny, serious, and moving, and at times each of those in the bounds of a single poem."

Poem Analysis and Explanation

1st Stanza: A cat became entangled in the poet's house tree early one morning, which led to the occurrence. When the poet's father spotted the cat in difficulty, he instructed the other family members to let him handle the cat's rescue. He had intended to suggest that the cat would undoubtedly reach safety.

2nd Stanza: The father, who was in his middle age, was reluctant to climb the tree because it was tall and unstable. The mother is presented in this stanza for this reason. She will understandably worry about her husband's safety because she looks after the family. For God's sake, she uttered, making it apparent that she was objecting to or opposed to her husband climbing the unstable tree. She warns him not to fall off and to use caution.

3rd Stanza: The father laughed and responded in jest after hearing her wife's admonition. A climber like him, he assured her, would never fall from a shaky tree. In other words, he was attempting to convince his loved ones that he was fearless and that nothing could harm him. He desired for them to be pleased with him. He proclaimed that scaling a tall, precarious tree was child's play and advised everyone to watch in awe as he gallantly saved the cat.

4th Stanza: Dad pulls the ladder out of the garden shed in this stanza. He set it down and scaled it. But the ladder wasn't set up correctly. He attempted to ascend it, but the ladder gave way, and he plummeted. He fell directly on the garden's flower bed.

5th Stanza: Dad wasn't discouraged by his failure. Never worry, he replied as he cleaned the mud off his face, clothes, and hair. This indicated that he was preparing for a follow-up attempt.

6th Stanza: Plan B, according to Dad, would be tried. To ensure that nothing would obstruct him or his plan, he urged everyone to move out of the way. As a result of the fall, the mother's anxiety increased, and she begged with him to avoid falling again.

7th Stanza: Dad responded that it was practically impossible, calling the idea of him falling again a joke. Then he made another attempt to save the cat. His body was raised by a branch. He fell again because the branch broke because it couldn't hold his weight and was too frail to do so.

8th Stanza: He now impacted the ground hard. Initially only concerned, the mother is now startled and terrified for the father's life. This is demonstrated by her warning the father not to continue climbing the tree for fear of breaking his neck.

9th Stanza: The husband's wife received little of the father's attention. Instead, he asserted that she was making ridiculous claims and that, for a skilled climber like himself, ascending a tree seemed as simple as blinking. He is trying to convey that he is a really terrific climber and that he might wink and climb a shaky tree.

Summary of the Story

The situation that the poem describes occurs in the morning. A cat becomes trapped in a tall, shaky tree. In this poem, the poet?a little child?begs his father to save the cat. The father rushes to get a ladder so he may climb the tree. In the meantime, the mother cautions the father. The mother is told by the father not to be concerned. He claimed to be an expert climber and that climbing a large, shaky tree like that was easy for him. He mounted the ladder, but as he did so, it slid, and he fell onto the flower bed in the garden. This didn't discourage the father in any way. After wiping off the dust, he executed Plan B. Everyone was told to move aside by him. The father responded light-heartedly when the mother cautioned him once more. On his second try, he hung himself on a branch. He fell to his back, however, after the branch broke. The mother requested him to stop out of worry that he might break his neck as she grew more alarmed and astonished. However, he assured her that the procedure was simple and that he would try Plan C. He scaled the garden wall. He shockingly and fortunately avoided falling. He then made a huge leap, landing on the cat and in the tree's bend. The cat yowled before leaping to the ground. It was secure at this point. But ironically, the father was still clinging to the tree.