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By ADRIENNE RICH
1. How do ‘denizens” and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitude?
The word “denizens” means residents. The word implied that the tigers are majestic and unafraid in their natural environment, in contrast to their creator who is feeble and oppressed. They are fearless and “chivalric”, they are sure-footed unlike the Aunt who is oppressed. The tigers do not fear men and as the poet says “They pace in sleek chivalric certainty”, tigers are heroic and conduct themselves in a manly fashion.
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?
The alliteration ‘fingers fluttering’ suggests Aunt Jennifer’s physical weakness; she is so feeble that she has trouble manipulating the needle ‘through her wool’. They also imply her fear of uncle. The second stanza represents the reality of Aunt Jennifer’s life. She finds the needle so hard to pull because she feels that her wedding ring in her finger is too heavy. Indirectly the poet says that her inability to do this needlepoint represents her inability to express herself in a male dominated society. She has a creative force but her husband with his callous attitude stifles it.
3. What is suggested by the image “massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band”?
The weight that rests ‘heavily’ on her hand is not something she enjoys but it curbs her from doing what she would like to do. Physically a wedding ring is light but this one has a ‘massive weight’, heavily sitting on her hand. These images construct an opposition between the couple.
4. Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified with in the third stanza?
The third stanza is a narrative of the future. The tigers made by Aunt Jennifer will go on prancing, proud and unafraid even after Aunt Jennifer is dead. While the tigers represent her spirit and how she would like to live, her hands represent the reality of life. Because Aunt Jennifer allowed herself to become subservient to her husband, she has lost her last part of humanity; her identity. By referring to the central character only by her title at the end of the poem the Poet reinforces her warning to women.
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?
The word ringed has a double connotation – indicating not only the ring that sits heavily on her hand, but the difficulties in her life that will continue to surround her. Life has crushed her totally and death will not be able to liberate her from the terror of her married life. She will continue to be ringed by the sufferings that she had undergone while living. Aunt Jennifer's ordeals are the ordeals of keeping her husband happy. She can do nothing against the wishes of her husband. The word 'ringed' conveys the idea that Aunt Jennifer can never get out of her slavish routine. Her daily chores will not leave her even when she is dead. Her hands will be ringed with the things she was in the process of making. The meaning of the word ‘ringed’ in the poem is ‘surrounded by.’
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?
Aunt Jennifer creates an alternative world of freedom one which she could not inhibit other than in her imaginations. The poet recreates fear in the first stanza, implied slavery in the second, ordeals in the third stanza. The poet presents an ironic image of a contrast between the common perception of animals as being brutal and of men being inhumane. Here the ‘brutal’ tiger represents freedom while the ‘civilized’ man the oppressor.
7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.
Adrienne Rich uses a number of similes and symbols in the poem to convey her theme. The tiger symbolizes the spirit of freedom which Aunt Jennifer dreams of attaining. The character of Aunt Jennifer symbolizes the suppressed women community as a whole rather than one individual. The tiger was also a symbol of what a women desired to be during that period. Even though the legacy she leaves for the world is one that exudes freedom and confidence, “her terrified hands will lie/still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by”.
8. Are the hands terrified?
Terrified hands stand for aunt Jennifer. It is not the hands that were terrified but aunt Jennifer herself was terrified. The figure of speech is “transferred epithet”
9. Do you sympathize with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?
Yes, we do sympathize with Aunt Jennifer as desired by the poet. She tried to express herself and to overcome the oppression that she probably could not even explain. Aunt Jennifer never got to see women standing strong and proud because they were simply women in the end. The poet Adrienne Rich showed that Aunt Jennifer represented every woman of her time. Ironically enough she rebels using the oppressor’s own language to feel a sense of triumph. Overpowered by gender roles unable to communicate her own feelings, and torn between rebellion, expression and society, Aunt Jennifer represses her fears and desires into the exotic tigers knitted onto her wool who go on living even after her death.
1. How do ‘denizens” and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitude?
The word “denizens” means residents. The word implied that the tigers are majestic and unafraid in their natural environment, in contrast to their creator who is feeble and oppressed. They are fearless and “chivalric”, they are sure-footed unlike the Aunt who is oppressed. The tigers do not fear men and as the poet says “They pace in sleek chivalric certainty”, tigers are heroic and conduct themselves in a manly fashion.
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?
The alliteration ‘fingers fluttering’ suggests Aunt Jennifer’s physical weakness; she is so feeble that she has trouble manipulating the needle ‘through her wool’. They also imply her fear of uncle. The second stanza represents the reality of Aunt Jennifer’s life. She finds the needle so hard to pull because she feels that her wedding ring in her finger is too heavy. Indirectly the poet says that her inability to do this needlepoint represents her inability to express herself in a male dominated society. She has a creative force but her husband with his callous attitude stifles it.
3. What is suggested by the image “massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band”?
The weight that rests ‘heavily’ on her hand is not something she enjoys but it curbs her from doing what she would like to do. Physically a wedding ring is light but this one has a ‘massive weight’, heavily sitting on her hand. These images construct an opposition between the couple.
4. Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified with in the third stanza?
The third stanza is a narrative of the future. The tigers made by Aunt Jennifer will go on prancing, proud and unafraid even after Aunt Jennifer is dead. While the tigers represent her spirit and how she would like to live, her hands represent the reality of life. Because Aunt Jennifer allowed herself to become subservient to her husband, she has lost her last part of humanity; her identity. By referring to the central character only by her title at the end of the poem the Poet reinforces her warning to women.
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?
The word ringed has a double connotation – indicating not only the ring that sits heavily on her hand, but the difficulties in her life that will continue to surround her. Life has crushed her totally and death will not be able to liberate her from the terror of her married life. She will continue to be ringed by the sufferings that she had undergone while living. Aunt Jennifer's ordeals are the ordeals of keeping her husband happy. She can do nothing against the wishes of her husband. The word 'ringed' conveys the idea that Aunt Jennifer can never get out of her slavish routine. Her daily chores will not leave her even when she is dead. Her hands will be ringed with the things she was in the process of making. The meaning of the word ‘ringed’ in the poem is ‘surrounded by.’
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?
Aunt Jennifer creates an alternative world of freedom one which she could not inhibit other than in her imaginations. The poet recreates fear in the first stanza, implied slavery in the second, ordeals in the third stanza. The poet presents an ironic image of a contrast between the common perception of animals as being brutal and of men being inhumane. Here the ‘brutal’ tiger represents freedom while the ‘civilized’ man the oppressor.
7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.
Adrienne Rich uses a number of similes and symbols in the poem to convey her theme. The tiger symbolizes the spirit of freedom which Aunt Jennifer dreams of attaining. The character of Aunt Jennifer symbolizes the suppressed women community as a whole rather than one individual. The tiger was also a symbol of what a women desired to be during that period. Even though the legacy she leaves for the world is one that exudes freedom and confidence, “her terrified hands will lie/still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by”.
8. Are the hands terrified?
Terrified hands stand for aunt Jennifer. It is not the hands that were terrified but aunt Jennifer herself was terrified. The figure of speech is “transferred epithet”
9. Do you sympathize with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?
Yes, we do sympathize with Aunt Jennifer as desired by the poet. She tried to express herself and to overcome the oppression that she probably could not even explain. Aunt Jennifer never got to see women standing strong and proud because they were simply women in the end. The poet Adrienne Rich showed that Aunt Jennifer represented every woman of her time. Ironically enough she rebels using the oppressor’s own language to feel a sense of triumph. Overpowered by gender roles unable to communicate her own feelings, and torn between rebellion, expression and society, Aunt Jennifer represses her fears and desires into the exotic tigers knitted onto her wool who go on living even after her death.
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