Oh Hame Fain Wad I Be!, from Popular Sketches of British Quadrupeds

❰

1 2

❱

IT is clear she could only have carried one kitten at a time. The distance from Edinburgh to Glasgow is forty miles; so, in returning, she must have travelled one hundred and twenty; and her prudence must have suggested the mode of travelling in the night, with many other circumstances, for the safety of her kittens.

When she was admitted to the door of her old habitation, she brought one kitten up in her mouth, and deposited it in the corner of the drawing-room, which she always occupied; — then returned for the second, and afterwards seated herself very composedly, without taking particular notice of any of the company present.

From ‘Recreations in natural history, or, Popular Sketches of British Quadrupeds’ (1815). It was published by William Clark, and the illustrations were by Luke Clennell (1781-1840); however, no author’s name was given.

Précis

As she could scruff only one kitten at a time, the desperate mother must have had to make three trips, covering 120 gruelling miles in all, and probably by night. On arriving home she carried her kittens in one-by-one, and then placidly resumed her familiar place by the hearth, just as if she had never been away.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

Questions for Critics

Tags

Read Next