Aunt Jennifer's Tiers Summary

 AUNT JENNIFER'S TIGERS

By Adrienne Rich

About the Poet

We C. Rich (May 16, 1929-March 27, 2012) was born in Baltimore. She was an American poet She was known as one of the most widely real and influential poets of the half of the 20th century, and was credited with bringing the oppression of women to the of potic discourse" She published twenty-the volumes of poetry, three collections of essays ad more than half a dozen ether writings

Es prose collections are widely acclaimed for their erudite, lucid, and poetic treatment of politics, history, racism and many other topics

Introduction

The poem Aunt Jennifer's Tigers' addresses the constraints of mamed life that a woman experiences The protagonist of the poem, Aunt Jennifer represents women all over the world, particularly the women merica, during the 1950s. She represents the kind of women who were caught under the oppressive hand of a patriarchal society. The port, Adrienne Rich through the simple lines of the poem, delineates woman's struggles with expression and rebellion. The three quatrains (four lined stanza) expose the slating effects of patriarchy

the first stanza, the poet first introduces us to Aunt Jennifer's dreams. In the second stanza, w airtorsduced to the reality of Aunt Jennifer's world. The third stanca is a narrative of the future

Theme

The poem revolves around the desires and the depressingly harsh realities of Aunt Jennifer's existence, using sharp contrasts between the tigers and herself. The tigers appear to it sharp contrast to her personality. The tigers' actions are smooth, uninhibited and proud Am Jennifer, on the other hand, has great trouble even to embroider because her movements art weak Aunt Jennifer is evidently a lonely, pained old woman plagued by anxiety. The for her miserabile plight is the oppressive patriarchal family system, wherein the whole nal of the family is the male and it is he, who dominates the scene. She creates an alternative weld of freedom-a world that she longs for through her tigers

Poetic Devices

Irony

It is ironical that Aunt Jennifer's creations will continue to prance freely, when the main to be chained by the woes of life.

Alliteration

fingers fluttering

The repeated "T" sound in "fingers fluttering".

prancing proud

chivalric certainty

weight of wedding band

Metaphor

ringed with ordeals - 

even death would not fall her. (It is also a symbol of oppression)

Transferred Epithet

terrified fingers

Imagery

"Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, Bright topaz denizens of a world of green."

This first couplet portrays an idealistic, dreamlike world where nothing can go wrong When the word "screen" is shown, readers' minds jump to the relaxing hobby of needle work where no one is rushed, and where they can use their imagination. The words "tiger prance", "bright topaz denizens", and "a world of green" are backed by bright, colourful images of exotic animals (tigers) moving gracefully among the colours of green and topaz From these words, people can feel as if they are right there, standing in this peaceful scene

"Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool Find even the ivory needle hard to pull."

Here, Adrienne Rich uses the words "fingers fluttering" to make Aunt Jennifer's work appear graceful, delicate, and light as fluttering holds the connotation of birds' wings and feathers, both extremely light and carefree.

Symbols

■A number of symbols have been used by the poet to emphasise upon the chauvinisom of men and the suppression of the women at their hands.

Tiger: It is used as a symbol of fear and terror perpetrated on women by world. It is also used as a symbol of the freedom of spirit which the Aunt dreams of bus is unable to achieve. the male

• Bright Topaz: This symbolises the bright yellowish brown colour of the tiger skin. • Fluttering Wool: This image highlights the extensive oppression of the women.

• Uncle's Wedding Band: This symbolises the suppression of women in matrimoni also symbolic of the oppression of women by custom and law.

Ringed with Ordeals: This is an image used by Adrienne to express the struggles of facial

pand religious injustice and express or

Aunt Jennifer A victim of male-oppression who is dependent, frail, fearful and t Embroidery: This is a symbol of creative expression.

Val Imagery

bright topaz denizens

 world of green

Personification

They pace in sleek chivalric certainty."

In this line, Adrienne Rich has given the tigers a chivalric characteristic through personification. As much as fairytales and stories disagree, tigers in real life are not noble. they are wild animals.

"The tigers in the panel that she made

Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid."

Here, Adrienne Rich uses pride, a humanly attribute, to offer a way for the reader to really understand how important these tigers are, and how they have the courage and pride that Aunt Jennifer never had.

Rhyme Scheme

The poem has a perfect rhyme scheme aa bb cc. This makes it lyrical in nature. Words at the end like screen-green, band-hand, lie-by, etc. bring out a playful rhythm

Summary

In this feminist poem, which is critical of the male world, Aunt Jennifer creates an alternate world of freedom in her art. The tigers of Aunt Jennifer's stitchings are representative of her desire to be a free spirit, emphasising the fact that she pines for freedom from her burdensome husband.

The first stanza opens with Aunt Jennifer's visual tapestry of tigers who are fearless of their environment. "Bright topaz denizens of a world of green" - evoke an image that these tigers are unafraid of other beings in the jungle. Here, 'bright' signifies their powerful and radiant persona. There is a sense of certainty and firm confidence in the way these tigers move as can be seen in the line - "They pace in sleek chivalric certainty".

In the second stanza, the reality of Aunt Jennifer is revealed as she is feeble, weak and enslaved, very much the opposite of the tigers she was knitting. Her physical and mental trauma is depicted in the line - "find even the ivory needle hard to pull". Even though a wedding ring doesn't weigh much, "the massive weight of uncle's wedding band, sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand" signifies the amount of dominance her husband has exercised over her. This also means that her inner free spirit has been jailed by the patriarchal society.

The last stanza starts on a creepy note about Aunt Jennifer's death. Even her death wouldn't

free her from the ordeals she went through which can be seen in "When Aunt is dead, her