Book: The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten

Overview
Oliver Herford's "The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten" (1904) is a playful parody that transposes the meditative voice of Omar Khayyam's quatrains into the small, mischievous world of a Persian kitten. The book keeps the formal echoes of the original rubaiyat, short, epigrammatic stanzas and a contemplative rhythm, but replaces existential and metaphysical brooding with feline preoccupations: sunbeams, saucers of milk, moths, the mysteries of the cushioned lap and the closed door.
Rather than attempting solemn translation or imitation, the book delights in inversion. Lofty subjects like fate, time, and the nature of joy are treated as matters of purrs and play, so that a statement about the transience of life becomes a comic reflection on the brevity of a nap, and a meditation on the cup of life becomes a yearning for the saucer of cream.

Style and Tone
Herford's language is light, crisp, and witty, using the concise bite of rhyme and rhythm to land comic reversals. The verses often mimic the quatrain form and the sing-song cadence associated with the Rubaiyat while introducing feline similes and domestic scenarios that undercut any pretension to grandiosity. The humor relies on anthropomorphism that never strains; the kitten's outlook is both charmingly literal and slyly knowing.
The tone is affectionate rather than mocking. Playfulness and gentle irony predominate, with occasional absurdist flashes that surprise the reader. The voice walks a line between childlike wonder and urbane wryness, so that adults recognize the send-up while younger readers are carried along by image and incident.

Characters and Episodes
The central figure is the Persian kitten itself, portrayed as regal in bearing yet perpetually engaged in small obsessions: chasing a fly, claiming a cushion, guarding a toy, or brooding by the window. Other figures, the household human, the indifferent dog, the furtive mouse, the housemaid, appear as supporting characters who help set up the kitten's comic dilemmas and triumphs.
Scenes are miniature vignettes that read like poetic snapshots. A nocturne about moonlight becomes a soliloquy on batting at shadows; a meditation on destiny turns into a rumination about whether the string will ever be caught. The economy of each stanza leaves space for the reader's imagination to fill in the kitten's swagger and bewilderment.

Themes and Humor
Beneath the surface whimsy, the book gently engages classic themes of pleasure, transience, and perspective. Herford reframes serious philosophical concerns in a domestic register: impermanence is demonstrated by an interrupted nap, the search for meaning is encapsulated in the hunt for a hidden toy, and the consolation of companionship is found in shared warmth on a cold hearth. This transposition makes the big questions feel accessible and amusing rather than forbidding.
The humor performs a mild corrective to solemnity. By translating grand poetic gestures into feline antics, Herford invites readers to take life less seriously, to find joy in small comforts, and to appreciate how perspective reshapes significance. The satire is gentle enough to charm rather than sting, and its intelligence comes through in the precise turns of phrase and the knowing inversions.

Legacy and Appeal
"The Rubaiyat of a Persian Kitten" endures as a favorite for readers who enjoy literary playfulness and affectionate parody. Its combination of terse, musical verse and whimsical situations makes it appealing to both children and adults: children delight in the kitten's exploits, while adults appreciate the clever homage to a well-known poetic form. Within Herford's broader output, the book showcases his talent for blending illustration-minded imagery, concise verse, and urbane humor into a compact, timeless amuse-bouche of a book.