Question

Read the poem.

My Cat

A bump of black and white

Is purring in my bed.

And later on at night

I find him near my head.

The pillow quakes and quivers

Like pudding on a plate.

He wakes me up at midnight.

I sure hope he sleeps late!

There are several examples of alliteration in this poem.

How does the alliteration affect the tone of this poem?


It creates a humorous tone because the speaker is amused by the cat even though it keeps the speaker awake.


It creates a mournful tone because the speaker is sad about losing sleep.


It expresses the speaker’s frustration with the cat.


It expresses how tired the speaker is because the cat keeps the speaker awake.

Answer 1

it creates a humorous tone because the speaker is amused by the cat even though it keeps the speaker awake

Answer 2

The alliteration affects the tone of the poem in the following way:

It creates a humorous tone because the speaker is amused by the cat even though it keeps the speaker awake.

Alliteration, also called head rhyme, is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in order to create different effects, such as drama or even humor. Examples found in the poem:

A bump of black and white...

I find him near my head.

The pillow quakes and quivers...

The author, by using alliteration, is kindly ironic about his cat, since he both likes the animal and is disturbed by it.