The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

“The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” portrays an equal, healthy love that transcends differences. In their reciprocal admiration for each other, their joint quest, and happy wedding, the owl-and-pussy-cat pair offer a model of an ideal romance and marriage. Lear builds this theme by complementing romantic settings and tropes with the meaningful actions of the characters.

The owl and the pussy-cat are always shown in enchanted, beautiful settings, such as taking a romantic boat ride across the sea. During the boat ride, the owl makes traditional romantic gestures like looking at the star-filled sky above and singing a gentle, admiring song to the beautiful cat. The pair sail together on an abstract, mysterious sea for a similarly mysterious period of time and reach an island with an enchanted air. After their wedding, they dance on the romantic setting of a moonlit beach, “hand in hand, on the edge of the sand” (Line 29).

These settings and gestures are romantic enough, and are often featured in stories of love. What fleshes them out is the poet’s treatment of the relationship between the owl and the pussy-cat. Notably, the poem does not feature certain tropes of romance and fairytale, such as a saving knight or the damsel in distress.