The Song of the Jellicles

As the title of the poem as well as its main characters, the Jellicles are symbolic of everything the poem is trying to say. The Jellicles are symbolic of the rich, sophisticated class; they are symbolic of naturalistic worshippers; and they are, more than anything else, cute, fun cats. Eliot wants these feline figures to be interesting and playful and to inspire an imaginative scene in the reader’s mind.

Interestingly, the juxtaposition between the innocent cats and the upper-class activities and qualities of the cats places the Jellicles in a unique category. They are both innocent and experienced, both childlike and adultlike. They exist at the intersection between childhood and adulthood, and because of this, they are characters of renewal, change, growth, and reincarnation.

One formal way Eliot allows for the juxtaposition between innocence and experience is through repetition. Consider the lines that contain more mature words like “when they caterwaul” (Line 8), “airs and graces” (Line 11), “gavotte and a jig” (Line 16), “toilette and take their repose” (Line 18), “terpsichorean powers” (Line 27), and “practice a caper or two” (Line 32). These lines all break the consistent “Jellicle Cats” opening of most lines in the poem. But when Eliot begins a line with “Jellicle Cats,” the line is usually simple and childlike, like “Jellicle Cats are black and white” (Line 5) and “Jellicle Cats are not too big” (Line 14). The elevated language actually affects the structure of the lines.