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Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
About the poet Adrienne Rich 1929 – 2012
Adrienne Cecile Rich is one of the greatest American poets of the second half of the twentieth century. She is also known for her works against women’s oppression. She was an essayist, poet, and feminist. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 16th May 1929. Her father influenced her to start writing poetry. She went to Radcliffe College. She published her first work, a collection of poetry, Change of world in 1951 when she was in her first year of college. She has published nineteen volumes of poetry, three collections of essays, and other writings. Through her work, she registers a strong protest against racism and militarism.  She was very vocal against the war in Iraq and Vietnam. The poem Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers addresses the constraints and subjugation(gaining control over) of married life a woman experiences. Rich died on March 27, 2012, at the age of 82 in her Santa Cruz, California home,

Background of the poem
Adrienne Rich writes about her aunt. Her aunt loves to weave tapestry (a piece of cloth with a pattern or picture created by weaving different coloured threads onto a strong cloth) She has woven a tapestry, which shows tigers in a hunting scene. Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger was published in 1951 in the very first collection of poetry, A Change of World when Rich was 22 years old.





POEM
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 fingers 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.


Word Meanings
1. prance                                move with high steps
2. screen                                 a frame used for embroidery (needlework)
3. Bright topaz                       bright yellow colour
4. denizen inhabitant/dweller
5. a world of green             forest
6. pace                                    move, walk
7. sleek                                    smooth and shiny/ elegant
8. chivalric                              behaving in a polite, courteous, and gallant way like the knights.
9. fluttering                             making quick delicate movement
10. ivory needle                       needle made of ivory
11. massive                              heavy
12. wedding band                    wedding ring
13. terrified                             scared
14. ordeals                              difficult or unpleasant situation
15. mastered                           controlled

Poetic Devices
chivalric certainty                   Alliteration
fingers fluttering                     Alliteration
Uncle’s wedding band            Metonymy (referring to Aunt’s marriage) the act of referring to                                                       something using a word that describes one of its qualities or                                                                    features
terrified hands                         Transferred epithet (Aunt was terrified )


Summary
Stanza 1
In the first stanza, the poet describes Aunt Jennifer’s tigers embroidered on a tapestry. The tigers are bright yellow in colour in the green forest. The tigers are brave and chivalric. They are not afraid of men beneath the tree. The poet describes the tigers as lively and colourful, full of life and energy
Stanza 2
The second stanza describes the manner Aunt Jennifer is crafting the tapestry. Her fingers are fluttering through the wool but she finds it hard to pull the ivory needle through the tapestry. The heavy weight of the uncle’s wedding ring is causing it difficult to move her fingers. The wedding band metaphorically refers to the burdens of Aunt Jennifer’s marriage.
Stanza 3
Aunt Jennifer’s subjugation to the male domination continues in the third stanza also. The poet morbidly predicts that even after the death of Aunt Jennifer, her ordeals will continue. After her death, her terrified hands will have the same massive weight of the ring, the symbol of suppression by her ‘master’. The last two lines of the poem once again bring out the symbolism of the tigers unafraid and proud depicting the world of freedom.
The theme of the poem
The poem deals with the Patriarchy, which refers to a male-dominated society where the women are considered inferior to men, and where men hold ultimate authority and control. The aunt represents the oppressed women and on the other hand, the tigers represent the world of freedom.


Structure of the poem
The poem is made up of three quatrains rhyming  AABB   CCDD   EEFF.
Each stanza has two pairs of rhyming couplets.




                       

Think it out
1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes?

Ans. The tigers do refer to the denizens (inhabitants) of the forest. They are bright yellow (topaz), active, brave and agile. The tigers in the green evoke a sense of majestic freedom. The tigers are chivalric so they represent the traditional male chauvinistic world. The image of tigers is just the opposite to the subjugated world of Aunt Jennifer.

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?

Ans. Aunt Jennifer designed the woollen patterns on the tapestry. She found stitching patterns difficult because of the heavy weight of the uncle’s wedding band (ring). This band metaphorically or symbolically represents domination of women by the male chauvinistic world. The burden of the married life hangs heavy on her (finger), so she finds it difficult to pull the needle.

3. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’?

Ans. The image of ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’ suggests the traditional subjugation of women by the patriarchal world.

4. Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified with in the third stanza?

Ans. Aunt Jennifer’s terrified hand with wedding band contributes to the perpetuation of the ordeals of women in marriage. Even after death, Aunt Jennifer will carry on the legacy of women subjugation. The ringed finger is the testimony of that suppression.



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?

Ans. Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by the ordeals of atrocity, constriction, and subjugation by the masculine world.
The word ‘ringed’ contributes two meanings. Literally ‘ringed’ means sacred bond of conjugal life. However, metaphorically the ring signifies the bondage of unhappy married life where the women are subjected to subjugation.


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?

Ans. Aunt Jennifer has created the animals that are so different from her because she wanted to create a world of emancipation where these animals are free unlike her. They are not suppressed like her. They roam about unafraid and proud, prancing in the green frost, unlike Aunt Jennifer who is mastered (dominated) by her husband every moment.

7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.

Ans. In the poem, the tiger is the symbolic creation of Aunt Jennifer. The tiger represents the inner self of the aunt. The poet has created a stark contrast between the aunt and the tiger. Aunt Jennifer is oppressed, depressed and afraid because of her husband (master) in her conjugal (married) life. On the other hand, her creation, the tiger symbolizes the spirit of the unafraid world, which is proud and self-assured and free.
Apart from the tiger, Aunt Jennifer herself symbolizes the women of the world who are subjugated by the patriarchal society.
We can also symbolize the wedding band as the symbol of bondage in married life.

8. Do you sympathise with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?

Ans. Indeed, I do sympathize with Aunt Jennifer.
 The speaker also has profound sympathy for Aunt Jennifer. She represents the world of oppressed women in marriage. The symbols and similes in the poem testify the speaker’s sympathy towards the aunt.


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