The Dead Kitty in Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat (Favourite)"Gray's Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Bathtub of Gold Fishes" is the story of a curious cat who ends up in the Purrgitory (ha ha). Gray not only uses formalistic literary devices, but he also uses dialogue. When Gray addresses the reader, he uses word choice and allusions to convey the correlation between women and cats. Word choice plays a major role in this poem, as it helps set up allusions and other literary devices. The choice of words also helps bring out the theme of the relationship between women and cats with expressions such as “The unfortunate nymph with the wonderful saw:” (Gray 19). Nymphs are demigods, associated with nature and beauty. There is a second reference to nymphs, "No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred:.." (Gray 34) Nereid is a sea nymph. One of the best parts of the poem is that where Gray describes the cat. “His conscious tail declared its joy; The handsome round face, the snowy beard, The velvet paws, His coats that rival the tortoise, His jet ears and emerald eyes” (Gray 7-11). great example of word choice and description. Gray also uses word choice to create an atmosphere of grandeur. Gray shows this form of word choice when he describes the flowers in the first stanza, “The azure flowers,…” (Gray 3) He could have simply said the blue flowers. , but by using this first form he alludes to something greater. In the second stanza, when he describes the cat, he also seems to be describing the women. Gray talks at this point about the way the cat moves, particularly its tail. One of the main things that draws people's attention to a woman is the way she moves, cats have the same attribute. Another allusion in the story concerns gold objects. "What woman's heart can gold despise? What cat is opposed to fish?" (Gray 23-24) This refers to women's desire for jewelry and other expensive items. Compared to the cat's desire for the goldfish. “The Tyrian hue of their scaly armor, through the richest crimson, betrayed a golden glow to sight.” (Gray 16-18) Gray refers to the city of Tyre, famous for making purple dye, which kings used for their royal colors.