Mr. Mistoffelees

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" by Edward Lear (1871)

English poet Edward Lear is widely regarded as a master of the nonsense verse and limerick art forms. Lear’s poems dismiss the idea that children’s literature must be moral, instructional, or educational. Instead, his works emphasize the idea that the use of poetry lies in its capacity for entertainment, creativity, trickery, and wonder. “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” greatly influenced Eliot in the composition of his cat-lyrics. The poem is filled with delightful whimsical turns, innovative internal rhymes, and made-up words such as “runcible.”

Since the poem’s original publication, numerous artists have set to music, rewritten, pulled from, written responses or sequels to, and even set to parody parts of “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat,” attesting to its acclaim over centuries of time.

"The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll (1871)

While “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” uses coherent language and narrative structure, Lewis Carrol’s famous nonsensical poem mostly jettisons word-meanings to create an energetic, fun lexicon. “The Jabberwocky" is structured as a traditional ballad telling of the triumph of good over evil, the latter represented by the monstrous Jabberwock. However, the language is highly inventive, with the opening stanza itself throwing a curveball for the reader:

“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

     Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

     And the mome raths outgrabe.”

As peculiar as the words are, their rhymes and meter are highly memorable; Eliot uses similar sonic principles in “Mr. Mistoffelees” to give the poem the quality of a memorable song. “The Jabberwocky” is featured in Carroll’s highly contentious and often critically debated sequel to Alice in Wonderland, titled Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Both books are hotly discussed as to whether Carroll intended any sort of meaning to the texts or whether they were both—like “Jabberwocky”—simply brilliant pieces of absurdism.

"The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot (1925)

Tonally, “The Hollow Men”—written at least a decade before “Mr. Mistoffelees”—is widely different, articulating a bleak, soulless despair of mankind. The poem abounds in literary allusions, complete with an epigraph. Comparing the two poems from two different points in Eliot’s career give a bird’s eye view of his evolution and vast diversity of skill as an artist. The comparison is also useful in terms of similarities; like “Mr. Mistoffelees,” “The Hollow Men” uses repetition and rhyme to create a musical quality, revealing how central the sound of a poem is to Eliot’s creative process.