Curiosity+(Trees)

= Curiosity - Alastair Reid (p.652) =

may have killed the cat; more likely the cat was just unlucky, or else curious to see what death was like, having no cause to go on licking paws, or fathering litter on litter of kittens, predictably.

Nevertheless, to be curious is dangerous enough. To distrust what is always said, what seems to ask odd questions, interfere in dreams, leave home, smell rats, have hunches do not endear cats to those doggy circles where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches are the order of things, and where prevails much wagging of incurious heads and tails.

Face it. Curiosity will not cause us to die-- only lack of it will. Never to want to see the other side of the hill or that improbable country where living is an idyll (although a probable hell) would kill us all. Only the curious have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all.

Dogs say cats love too much, are irresponsible, are changeable, marry too many wives, desert their children, chill all dinner tables with tales of their nine lives. Well, they are lucky. Let them be nine-lived and contradictory, curious enough to change, prepared to pay the cat price, which is to die and die again and again, each time with no less pain. A cat minority of one is all that can be counted on to tell the truth. And what cats have to tell on each return from hell is this: that dying is what the living do, that dying is what the loving do, and that dead dogs are those who do not know that dying is what, to live, each has to do.


 * Biography**
 * Born in Scotland on March 22 1926
 * Came to the United States in the early 1950s
 * His poems were first published in The New Yorker in 1951, he was also a longtime traveling correspondent for the magazine
 * Lived in both Spain and Latin America for long periods of time
 * Famous for his translations of south american poets Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda
 * Has published over 40 books including essays, poetry, children's books and translations


 * **T**heme || For a person to experience life, he or she must takes risks ||
 * **I**magery || "Curiosity" begins with the saying "curiosity killed the cat" and is an extended metaphor that utilizes symbols to express the theme of the work. The cat is a symbol for people who want to have fun, get more out of life, and take risks, despite knowing the consequences. A dog, on the other hand, symbolizes a person that is content with life or lives in fear of death as a consequence of risk. Finally, death can be taken both literally and figuratively in this poem. In the figurative sense, according to Reid, people who do not take risks are not truly living because "Dead dogs are those that do not know that dying is what, to live, each has to do." Allegory is also used in this poem since the dogs and cats stand for people who do not take risks are not living life to the fullest. ||
 * **M**eter || This poem is free verse, so the meter is inconsistent and also contains some rhyming that is in no particular pattern. The speaker of the poem is the author, Alastair Reid. ||
 * **E**motion || "Curiosity" is a satirical poem because of the authors apparent criticism of dogs or the people that dogs symbolize. The poem begins in a lighter tone, but becomes more dark by the final stanza when it is clear that the author is on the cat side of the argument. Reid praises the good qualities of cats while saying that dogs are mostly dead before they even die, because of their lack of curiosity. There is a serious tone that is consistent throughout the poem while the author expresses his views on life and taking risks. ||

**Works Cited**
http://www.elmalpensante.com/control/medios/El%20Malpensante/Imagenes/Autores/A01/20090518043918.jpg http://www.newyorker.com/images/covers/1959/1959_11_14_p323.jpg http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cat_proximity.png
 * Images**

**Info**
http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/alastair-reid/ http://areidcuriosity.blogspot.com/