Poem-AUNT JENNIFER'S TIGERS

By Adrienne Rich

In the poem Aunt Jennifer's Tigers a woman expresses her suppressed feelings through her art.
Aunt Jennifer is the victim of the male dominated society. ... The poem is powerful and generalizes
the plight of all suppressed women of the world. It is how the power of the patriarchy controls
women's forms but not their minds. The poem makes this point by presenting the wild, interesting,
powerful tigers embroidered by Aunt Jennifer and contrasting them with Aunt Jennifer, the
oppressed wife

Difficult words and their meanings

Prance – To move ahead like a spirited horse

Topaz – a golden colored gem

Sleek – elegant

Denizen – an animal or a person found in a place

Chivalry – courageous and courteous behavior, especially towards women

Patriarchal society – A society where men hold the positions of power and prestige, typically
involved in decision making.

Summary

• Aunt Jennifer creates a needlepoint that shows tigers leaping across the canvas. Bright and vibrant,
like topaz gems, the tigers live within the green world of the canvas. They are not afraid of the men
standing underneath the tree, who are also depicted in the image. The tigers walk with certainty,
shining and courageous.  Aunt Jennifer's fingers swiftly and delicately work the yarn, yet she finds it
physically difficult to pull even a small needle made of ivory through the canvas. Her husband's
wedding band feels huge and weighs down heavily on her hand.  When Aunt Jennifer dies one day,
her frightened hands will finally be still. Yet they will still be marked by the difficulties that ruled over
her while she was alive. Meanwhile, the tigers she created will continue to leap across her
needlepoint without shame or fear.

FIRST STANZA EXPLANATION

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.

 The poet is describing a lady whom she addresses as Aunt Jennifer. She says that Aunt Jennifer is
doing embroidery on a piece of cloth which could be a tablecloth or a wall hanging. She has designed
it with beautiful tigers which are running fearlessly in the green forest. She has described their
beauty by comparing them with a precious yellow stone known as topaz. She says that they appear
bright yellow in the green backdrop of the forest. They are fearless and they are not affected by the
presence of men. Here we can sense the contrast of behavior between the tigers and aunt, though
the tigers designed by her are fearless but she herself is afraid of her husband. Further, the poet says
that the tigers are proud and fearless citizens of the forests. They are very shiny and elegant.
Literary Devices

 Rhyme scheme: aabb

 Anaphora: use of same word in two consecutive lines (they do not … and they pace in…)

 Metaphor: Use of topaz to describe the yellow color of tigers (Bright topaz)

SECOND STANZA

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 Here the poet
describes the fear of Aunt Jennifer towards her husband. She says that while she is doing
embroidery, her fingers are quivering (shaking) with fear of her husband. Her husband doesn’t
approve of her hobby of embroidery. Therefore, she trembles while she is embroidering the piece of
cloth. It has become difficult for her to pull her needle up and down. Then she describes the wedding
ring which was given by uncle to Aunt Jennifer on their wedding day. She says that it is a kind of
burden for her to wear this ring. She has been tortured by her husband so much that the wedding
ring which could have been a beautiful gift for her seems like a burden to her. She has faced so many
difficulties in her married life that the little ring is described as a heavy band on her trembling
fingers. This means that the ring is associated with some bad experiences in the form of torture she
has faced because of her husband’s dominating behaviour.

THIRD STANZA

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 poet says that one can easily sense aunt’s desire for freedom and fearlessness through her
design of tigers. Further she says that it is not possible for aunt to achieve this freedom during her
lifetime. She will attain it only after her death but here also the irony of her life is that still, she will
be tied up with shackles in the form of her husband’s wedding ring. The ring was the sole proof of
the tortures which she had faced from her husband. On the other hand, there are the tigers esigned
by Aunt Jennifer which will always depict her desire of living a fearless life by jumping proudly and
bravely on the piece of cloth.

Literary devices Rhyme scheme: aabb

alliteration: ‘p’ is repeated in prancing proud

Conclusion

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is a fabulous poem may also be serving a wife of a colonial officer (Uncle) and
being repressed because of his hard attitude. Though Jennifer is unable to change the patriarchal
system, she, to some extent, contributes to the rebellion against this system which leaves women
but no options to perform in society. The poem is remarkable for its style technique, imagery,
symbolism and theme – a typical quality of Adrienne Rich as a modern poet. Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
being a rebellious in nature is an autobiographical poem at the same time because the repressed
and dominated personality of Jennifer parallels Adrienne Rich’s. In short, the poem is to be
understood at so many different levels that its single interpretation is not possible.

Reference to the context

(a) Name the poem and the poet of these lines.

(b) What are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers doing? How do they look like?

(c) Where do they live? Are they fearless? Give an example.

(d) How do they pace?

 Answers:

(а) The poem is Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers. The poet is Adrienne Rich.

(b) They are jumping across a screen or a wall. They look like shining yellow topaz.

(c) They live in green forests. They are fearless. They don’t fear the men under the tree.

(d) They run with a well-groomed, honorable confidence.

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

Questions

(a)What were Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through?

(b)How was she pulling the needle?

(c)What was lying heavily? Where?

(d)What was upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand? How did it sit there?

Answer

a) Aunt Jennifer’s fingers were fluttering through her wool.

(b) She was finding even the ivory needle hard to pull.

(c) The weight of Uncle’s wedding band was lying heavily on her hand.

(d) There was uncle’s wedding band upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand. It sat heavily there.

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.

Question

(a) Why are Aunt Jennifer’s hands called ‘terrified’’?

(b) What are they still ringed with?

(c) Where did she make the tigers?

(d) What will happen to her tigers after her death?

Answer

(а) Her hands are called terrified because they passed through very hard and bitter

experience of married life.

(b) They are still ringed with those hard and testing difficulties which possessed her dining her life.

(c) She made the tigers in the panel.

(d) Her tigers will go on jumping ahead, proud and unafraid even after her death