PoemThe Rum Tum Tugger
Author / PoetT. S. Eliot
TagsCat, Curious, Preference, Rum

The Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat:
If you offer him pheasant he would rather have grouse.
If you put him in a house he would much prefer a flat,
If you put him in a flat then he’d rather have a house.
If you set him on a mouse then he only wants a rat,
If you set him on a rat then he’d rather chase a mouse.
Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat—
And there isn’t any call for me to shout it:
For he will do
As he do do
And there’s no doing anything about it!

The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore:
When you let him in, then he wants to be out;
He’s always on the wrong side of every door,
And as soon as he’s at home, then he’d like to get about.
He likes to lie in the bureau drawer,
But he makes such a fuss if he can’t get out.

Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat—
And there isn’t any use for you to doubt it:
For he will do
As he do do
And there’s no doing anything about it!

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious beast:
His disobliging ways are a matter of habit.
If you offer him fish then he always wants a feast;
When there isn’t any fish then he won’t eat rabbit.
If you offer him cream then he sniffs and sneers,
For he only likes what he finds for himself;

So you’ll catch him in it right up to the ears,
If you put it away on the larder shelf.
The Rum Tum Tugger is artful and knowing,
The Rum Tum Tugger doesn’t care for a cuddle;
But he’ll leap on your lap in the middle of your sewing,
For there’s nothing he enjoys like a horrible muddle.
Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat—
And there isn’t any need for me to spout it:
For he will do
As he do do
And theres no doing anything about it!

T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
26 Sep 1888 - 4 Jan 1965
Region: British, Northern Europe
Period: Modernist
Movement: Modernism
Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature, Order of Merit, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

more poems by T. S. Eliot

Poem NameTopic
Whispers Of ImmortalityDeath, Marrow, Skeleton
To Walter de la MareChildren, Jungle, Nursery
The Waste LandApril, Lilacs, Memory
The Song Of The JelliclesBall, Cats, Moon
The Old Gumbie Cat
The Naming Of CatsCat
The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Journey Of The Magi
The HippopotamusChurch, Flesh, True
The Boston Evening TranscriptAppetites, Boston, Evening

all poems by T. S. Eliot

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