Fog - By Carl August Sandburg
INTRODUCTION
Fog is a very small poem written by Carl Sandburg. He has described the process of arrival of the fog into a
city and the harbour. He has very beautifully compared it to a cat.
POEM EXPLANATION AND INTERPRETATION
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
EXPLANATION
The poet is describing fog. Fog is a thick cloud of tiny water droplets present in the atmosphere. It is
generally seen during the winter season. Here the poet describes the advancement of fog towards the city
and the harbour. He says the fog comes like a cat comes on its little feet. This means the fog advances
towards the city very slowly and calmly just like a cat. One never knows how and when the fog will enter the
city. Therefore, fog is compared to the cat which enters our home in an unpredictable manner. Next he says
that the fog sits over the whole of the city as a cat sits silently by folding her legs behind itself and looks
around the nearby places and things. Similarly, it seems that the fog silently covers the whole of the city and
the harbour and is sitting over them looking around like a cat. After a while the fog leaves the city and
moves on. The poet says so because it is a natural phenomenon that fog does not stay at a place for long
and leaves the place after a few hours. So, here also the poet says that just like a cat, the fog leaves the
place very silently without being noticed by anyone.
There is no rhyme scheme followed. Poem is in free verse.
WORD-MEANINGS
Fog: It is a thick cloud of tiny water droplets present in the atmosphere, especially in winter.
Literary devices:
1. Metaphor and Extended Metaphor(comparison continuing throughout the poem) :
• ‘The fog comes on little cat feet’ (poet has compared the fog with a cat).
• ‘It sits looking over harbour and city on silent haunches and then moves on’ (poet compares the
behavioural movement of both with fog settled over the city compared to a cat sitting on its hind legs)
• the poet says that fog leaving the city is like a cat leaving a place quietly.
2. Imagery: ‘little cat feet’; ‘silent haunches’ ; ‘the fog comes on’, ‘sits looking’ and ‘moves on’ invoke an
image of the fog entering, settling over and, then finally moving away from the city.
3. Enjambment: When a sentence continues to next line (It sits looking….. then moves on)
4. Personfication: fog has been personified – Fog comes, it sits looking
5. Analogy - It is the comparison between two things on the basis of structure for the purpose of clarification. The
poet has used the analogy to show us a connection between fog and cat. (An analogy is a literary device
that creates a relationship based on parallels or connections between two ideas. By establishing this
relationship, the new idea is introduced through a familiar comparison, thus making the new concept easier
to grasp.)
6. Transferred Epithet: On silent haunches
7. Alliteration: "fog" and "feet," "comes" and "cat,"
8. Consonance: "little cat feet."
The tone of the poem Fog is calm, mysterious, light and playful. The fog appears quietly and sits there
quietly and finally goes away.
But why choose a cat?
• A cat is an independent animal, it doesn't follow rules, it slips and slides in and out of our lives as it
pleases, just like fog, which knows no boundaries.
• Cats are stealthy, moving in slow motion at times. They can fix themselves onto an object or creature,
seemingly in a trance, yet they appear to be moving in a most mysterious fashion.
This poem captures a little of this feline mystery. The reader's mind becomes filled with this dual imagery of
fog and cat, fog turning into a cat, cat morphing back into the fog. By doing this, the poet is introducing the
idea that the fog is alive and is an entity.
• Cats also have the habit of finding a place which gives them an overview of a landscape or territory. They
can sit or lie for hours in this elevated state, taking in all that happens almost inscrutably.
• Fog, likewise, moves in at a slow pace and then stops, smothering everything, covering a landscape or
seascape, and bringing silence and mystery. You cannot see through or into it, much like trying to
understand a cat—you can only get so far. Can you ever get to know a cat? Ever get to know fog?
• Cats like to move on at their own pace—at their leisure. They become totally relaxed but when they want
to move they do so usually on their own terms. Before you know it, they've disappeared, faded away into
the undergrowth, leaving only their aura behind. Same with the fog.
REPORT WRITING
Cold Wave Hits Normal Life: Trains Flights Affected
BY: …………
Recent, unprecedented cold wave in entire north India has affected life of people severely. Fresh snow fall in
Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Utrakhand brought the temperature considerably low. As a result flight
operations at IGI Airport had to be delayed.
Many trains scheduled to arrive at Delhi, were also late by many hours. There were many accidents reported
on the Delhi Ambala Highway owing to very poor visibility.
The minimum temperature recorded in New-Delhi was 4 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The Indian
Meteorological Department has predicted the cold wae to continue to till the end of this month. The
Government has issued advisory to people to avoid travelling in the dense fog.
The density of the fog that has been blanketing for some years now has been steadily increasing. Steps
urgently need to be taken to mitigate its effects.Many mistakenly think that the fog that has become the
norm during the winters is the natural outcome of falling temperatures and relative humidity. However, fog
created in this manner is localised and vanishes as the temperature rises.
CONCLUSION/SUMMARY
The poet says that the fog which is generally seen during the winter season is coming towards the city and
the harbour just like a cat. This means that it is approaching the city in a very silent manner so that no one
can notice its arrival. He has compared its arrival to that of a cat because a cat always enters a place silently.
Next he says that the fog has covered the whole of the city and harbour and it appears as if it is sitting by
folding its legs and looking around just the way a cat does when it sits on the haunches and looks around.
At the end, he describes the departure of the fog which very silently and unpredictably, again, similar to the
departure of the cat, vanishes.
