memorize poetry

I love this poem. But I cannot read it aloud. I can’t find the stressed syllables in a way that is consistent from line to line. I am pretty sure there are “pause beats”, or places where the reader must pause for the length of a syllable to keep the rhythm. But even so, I cannot find a rhythm that works.

Cat

The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps upon his meat
where woods loom in gloom—
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.

-- J. R. R. Tolkien

This is a low priority goal, but one that I would like to complete in the long range. I plan to start with Tolkien poetry from the Lord of the Rings. After that, sections of Paradise Lost and Beowulf. I do appreciate the Ballad of Reading Gaol, and O Captain, My Captain.

It is a delight to be able to name the author, title, and sometimes line of a piece quoted by someone else. To quote it would be even better.