Tiger, tiger ... Animal poems go far beyond the Blake favourite. Photograph: Toby Maudsley/Getty
Regular readers of these poster poem blogs may well have noticed that I have a certain fondness for the poetry of Marianne Moore. In fact, I like her work so much that when I first had the idea of a call for poems on the subject of animals, I considered compiling a list of examples using only the 37 poems in her Complete Poems that have animals, real or otherwise, in their titles. But then I reconsidered; perhaps it might be more interesting to try to ignore Moore completely for once.
After all, it's not like other poets have neglected animals in their writing. Naturally enough, domestic pets feature strongly in any survey of animals that have been made to scan. Cats, though apparently difficult to name properly, have been versified in many guises. There are poems on cats monastic, antiphonal, and romantic. And, as every poet knows, wherever you have cats you will surely find a timid mouse cowering in the corner. The faithful dog has been rhymed for its various qualities as hunter and companion to Victorian ladies. They have even been used to comment on social class distinctions.
Outside the house, the horse has been sung as both a faithful, if somewhat bemused, companion and an equal partner in heroic enterprise. There are many farmyard poems. Young spring lambs are an obvious choice, lowing cattle make for nice stage props, some poets even try to squeeze in the entire farm. My own personal favourite features a bragging tenor bull.
Some poets have taken to the sport of angling, frequently in search of the noble salmon, that old Irish symbol of knowledge. Fortunately, few bards have hooked a whale, although at least one has used them in verse to try to combat the overuse of the simile.
Beasts of the jungle and wilderness have also featured in poetry. Most of you will be familiar with the big cat whose fearful symmetry so impressed one poet; but do you know the deer who live in a forest of small words, the great moose, or the poets who are snakes or just completely bats?
Poets have also considered the birds of the air; be they birds of ill omen or onomatopoeic birds of prey, a banker-bard reckons that there are at least 13 ways you can look at them.
However, of all the orders of animal, it is the insects that dominate the earth, so how could our versifiers ignore them. For readers of an entomological bent, there are metrical ants, beetles, lice and flies to pick from. And much like the cat amongst the mice, what would a gathering of insects be without an attendant spider?
So this week, the call is to unleash the poetic beast within. Rhyming wombats, free-verse aardvarks and all other poetic animals are welcome. And if you only have time to read one of Marianne Moore's animal poems, let it be this one here.
