"(Of) The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles" (Together with Some Account of the Participation of the Pugs and the Poms and the Intervention of the Great Rumpus Cat) is a poem by

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

included in ''

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' (1939) is a collection of whimsical Light poetry, light poems by T. S. Eliot about Cat, feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It serves as the basis for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 ...

'', his 1939 book of

light verse Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play including puns, adventurous rhyme, and heavy alliteration. Nonsense poetry i ...

. It is also included in

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

's 1981 musical ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

'', which is an adaptation of the book.

Poem

"(Of) The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles" was first published on 5 October 1939 in

's ''

''. Dogs are treated as "gullible simpletons" in the book and this particular poem revolves around a public commotion caused by warring dogs. Eliot specifically mentions "Pollicle Dogs" to be

Yorkshire Terrier The Yorkshire Terrier, also known as a Yorkie, is a British breed of toy dog of terrier type. It is among the smallest of the terriers and indeed of all dog breeds, with a weight of no more than . It originated in the nineteenth century in the ...

s in the poem as a reference to his first wife's dog Polly. The word "Pollicle Dog" is derived from a corruption of the phrase "poor little dog". Similarly, "Jellicle Cat" is a corruption of "dear little cat".

''Cats''

In ''

'', "The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles" is performed in the

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

as part of a play within the musical. It is sung by Munkustrap and describes a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

ary battle between two neighbouring dog tribes, the Pekes and the Pollicles, who bark "until you could hear them all over the park". Two more dog tribes, the Pugs and the Poms, eventually join in the barking as well. This goes on until the Great Rumpus Cat arrives and scares the dogs away. As Munkustrap narrates, the other cats act out the tale by using items from the junkyard to dress up as the dogs. The play is interrupted at several moments by the antics of Rum Tum Tugger.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles Poetry by T. S. Eliot Cats (musical) 1981 songs Songs with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber