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Jennifer'S Tigers: Adrienne Rich

This poem by Adrienne Rich is about an aunt named Jennifer and her experience with oppression. It consists of 3 stanzas: 1. The first stanza describes embroidered tigers that prance across a screen created by Aunt Jennifer, representing her desire to be brave and free from fear like tigers. 2. The second stanza shows how Aunt Jennifer finds it difficult to embroider due to the burden of her marital responsibilities, as her husband's wedding band feels heavy on her hand. 3. The final stanza suggests that even after her death, Aunt Jennifer will remain terrified of the ordeals she endured in her marriage, while the tigers she embroidered will remain proud and una

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73 views11 pages

Jennifer'S Tigers: Adrienne Rich

This poem by Adrienne Rich is about an aunt named Jennifer and her experience with oppression. It consists of 3 stanzas: 1. The first stanza describes embroidered tigers that prance across a screen created by Aunt Jennifer, representing her desire to be brave and free from fear like tigers. 2. The second stanza shows how Aunt Jennifer finds it difficult to embroider due to the burden of her marital responsibilities, as her husband's wedding band feels heavy on her hand. 3. The final stanza suggests that even after her death, Aunt Jennifer will remain terrified of the ordeals she endured in her marriage, while the tigers she embroidered will remain proud and una

Uploaded by

11 Commerce H IHS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AUNT JENNIFER'S TIGERS

BY
ADRIENNE RICH
 About Rich’s work, the poet W. S. Merwin has said,
“All her life she has been in love with the hope of telling utter truth, and her
command of language from the first has been startlingly powerful.”

 Richreceived the Bollingen Prize, the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award,


the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the 
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the National Book Award, and a MacArthur
Fellowship; she was also a former Chancellor of the Academy of American
Poets.

 In1997, she refused the National Medal of Arts, stating that “I could not
Adrienne Rich, in accept such an award from President Clinton or this White House because the
full Adrienne Cecile Rich, very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical
(born May 16, 1929, Baltimore politics of this administration.” She went on to say: “[Art] means nothing if it
, Maryland, U.S.—died March simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage.”
27, 2012, Santa Cruz,
 In
the same year, Rich was awarded the Academy of American Poets’ 
California), American poet,
scholar, teacher, and critic Wallace Stevens Award for outstanding and proven mastery in the art of
whose many volumes of poetry poetry.
 trace a stylistic transformation
 from formal, well-crafted but
imitative poetry to a more
personal and powerful style.
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,


Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
Stanza – 1

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,


Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance and move across a screen or wall.. They
are bright coloured like the golden yellow jewel (topaz). They are the
denizens (dwellers) of green forests. They are not afraid of the men
standing under the tree. They are well groomed (shining) and running
fast on the panel with confidence. 
  ( Here Aunt Jennifer has knitted  images of tigers on the panel. They are
not real or living tigers. The images of tigers are created by aunt on the
panel with her own hands. The tigers represent her dreams. Her desire is
to be free from fear and oppression that control her life and wants to
become brave like tigers.)
Stanza - 2

Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool


Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.

Aunt Jennifer’s hands are moving about her wool to create beautiful
images of tigers. But the movement is not easy and smooth. Aunt finds the
ivory needle very hard to pull through wool. The Uncle’s wedding band
seems very heavy on her hand. She feels burdened with her marital
(wedding) responsibilities.
Aunt always fears from her husband. Her marital life is burdened for her.
Through this stanza the poet wants to carry the fact that a women does not
feel ease to carry he martial life. Her humour does not matter before her
husband. She feels so much subjected that the martial bond is a burden on
her. This is also with aunt Jennifer.
Stanza – 3

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie


Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

The final stage reveals aunt Jennifer will remain terrified


always in her life as well as after her death. She will be
confident with unpleasant painful experiences after her death
because she is mastered by her husband. The tiger in the panel
that she made will go on jumping. They will be proud and
unafraid.
Important Words
 
Prance         ‐  jump or move in a spirited manner
Screen         ‐ here, the wall or the surface of the tapestry
Topaz          ‐ a bright yellow precious stone
Denizens    ‐ inhabitants
Chivalric     ‐ brave and honourable
Certainty   ‐ confidence
Fluttering  ‐ moving with a light irregular of trembling motion
Massive     ‐ heavy
Wedding band     ‐ wedding pact, signifying martial duties
Ringed          ‐ confident of tied up
Ordeals     ‐ unpleasant or painful experiences Mastered     ‐ controlled
Panel      ‐ flat board
Literary Devices
 Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /o/
in “Bright topaz denizens of a world of green” and the sound of /e/ in “When Aunt is dead, her
terrified hands will lie.”
 Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession,
such as the sound of /f/ in “finger fluttering” and /p/ in “prancing, proud.”
 Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound
of /d/ in “When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie” and the sound of /s/ in “They pace in
sleek chivalric certainty.”
 Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Adrienne
Rich used imagery in this poem, such as “They pace in sleek chivalric certainty”, “Find even the
ivory needle hard to pull” and “Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.”
 Irony: It means to the contradictory meanings of the words used in different contexts. For example,
the verse “When Aunt is dead” shows the irony of this creativity and oppression.
 Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that
are different in nature. The poet has used the extended metaphor of lions for the sons of the aunt.
 Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic
meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols such as the green,
topaz, finger, and wool to show the world of women undergoing oppression.
QUESTIONS TO REMEMBER
1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes?
2. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are ‘fluttering through her wool’ in the
second stanza? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?
3. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’?
4. Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified with in the third stanza?
5. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by, why is it significant that the
poet uses the word ‘ringed’? What are the meanings of the word ‘ringed’ in the
poem?
6. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals that are so different from her own
character? What might the poet be suggesting, through this difference?
7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.
8. Do you sympathise with Aunt Jennifer. What is the attitude of the speaker towards
Aunt Jennifer?
THANK YOU

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