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T. S. EliotA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Because magic is one of its principal themes, objects associated with magic tricks form an important motif in the poem. Mr. Mistoffelees is described as a cat who “can pick any card from a pack, / He is equally cunning with dice” (Lines 27-28). On one level, this simply means Mr. Mistoffelees can perform tricks of pulling out a card from a deck or throwing or chasing dice. At another, the speaker compares the car to a magician performing a card- or a dice-based trick—both of which are based on probability. Through the use of objects associated with magic tricks, the poet establishes that Mr. Mistoffelees’s conjuring act is every bit as sophisticated and delightful as a show by any expert magician. The magical objects also allude to the idea that all of life is an entertainment or a magic show.
Mr. Mistoffelees is described as “black/ From his ears to the tip of his tail (Lines 23-24). In many traditions, including the Egyptian and the Greek, black cats are associated with supernatural elements, witchcraft, and sorcery. In Greek mythology, Hecate—the goddess of magic—has a black cat as a pet and an spirit guide. Black cats came to be associated with evil in medieval Europe: sometimes called manifestations of Satan, and sometimes associated with witches.
By T. S. Eliot
Ash Wednesday
T. S. Eliot
East Coker
T. S. Eliot
Four Quartets
T. S. Eliot
Journey of the Magi
T. S. Eliot
Little Gidding
T. S. Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral
T. S. Eliot
Portrait of a Lady
T. S. Eliot
Preludes
T. S. Eliot
Rhapsody On A Windy Night
T. S. Eliot
The Cocktail Party
T. S. Eliot
The Hollow Men
T. S. Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T. S. Eliot
The Song of the Jellicles
T. S. Eliot
The Waste Land
T. S. Eliot
Tradition and the Individual Talent
T. S. Eliot