Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
What’s being said?
How’s it being said?
What’s my response
Some things you could write about:
What you liked or disliked and why. What you wish had happened.
What you wish the author had included. Your opinion of the characters.
What you felt as you read.
When you noticed when you read. Questions you have after reading. What it reminded you of.
What you wondered. What you learned.
What is this poem about?
Why would the poet write about this scene in
particular?
American poet, born in 1929.
She was brought up in a well-off family. Adrienne was the elder of two daughters.
Her father was a doctor and her mother was a music composer.
She grew up in with a Jewish father and a Protestant mother. As a result of this mixed marriage she was used to tensions between her parents. While Rich was growing up, she had to put up with moments of tense silence in her household.
Rich felt dominated by her father’s strong personality while growing up. It was he who most guided her as a young poet. This wasn’t always to her liking as he expected her to write her poems his way.
Rich wrote a lot of poems based on everyday experience. One
topic she often featured was the tension women felt due to
being dominated by their husbands.
Rich has been one of America’s most important female poets
for the past fifty years.
Rich has published over twenty volumes of poems and essays,
edited influential lesbian-feminist journals, and lived a lifetime
of campaigning for issues.
As a positive resume of her life, one could claim her mission is
to speak for the powerless, especially to overcome denial and
inequality in women’s lives.
Rich once refused to accept a Presidential medal as a protest
Rich was 21. Published her first collection A Change of
World
Poem looks neat, formal, conventional:
3 four-line stanzas
Iambic pentameter
Regular end-rhyme
But it has a feminist, unconventional quality, prompts
questions on gender issues.
Theme of marriage: unequal relationship between Aunt and
Uncle
Title suggest exotic, powerful, unusual
Tigers are an embroidered image which Aunt
Jennifer is working on. Embroidery is a traditionally
feminine craft, Rich probably chose embroidery on
purpose, instead of photography or painting.
Aunt Jennifer’s choice of image is interesting –
Opening filled with movement and are powerful:
suggest confidence, energy “prance” and “pace”
“Topaz” and “green” are vibrant, energetic
colours which create an upbeat feeling.
The tigers don’t fear the men beneath the tree
Aunt Jennifer created these Tigers to be vibrant,
Mood changes in second stanza – nervousness, unease,
Aunt Jennifer’s fingers “fluttering”
Making the embroidered panel is difficult because of the
“massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band”. (Making the
image of freedom and confidence is difficult because of
the Uncle’s mastery, dominance).
Never ending circle of a wedding ring symbolises eternity.
But in this poem it is a burden, is heavy and a massive
presence.
Aunt Jennifer is trapped in her marriage, her embroidery is
Poems begins in present tense. Moves to future
tense by the end.
The speaker talks about when Aunt Jennifer will be
dead.
Words like “terrified”, “ordeals” and “mastered”
capture what the niece thought of her Aunt’s life.
The image of the wedding ring is repeated “ringed
with ordeals”.
It is an unattractive and unconventional portrait of
The poem’s final image is one of freedom and
escape and fearlessness.
There is hope: the tigers will go on being free,
prancing, proud and unafraid.
The final two lines are defiant and energetic.
Though Aunt Jennifer was cowed into submission,
she succeeded in creating a lasting image of
assertion.
The hands that fluttered and found it difficult to pull
The poem gives a glimpse of a woman’s life.
The poet expresses opinion but doesn’t judge
Aunt Jennifer.
The poem shows the relationship between a
bully and a victim.
It poses questions about relationships, marriage,
Male persona speaks – Uncle
Topic and mood is unrest, in this instance, political unrest. It
refers to people power.
“The” Uncle no “a” or “my” creates a certain mood of
formality.
The drawing room creates the atmosphere of order, elegance,
privilege.
The poem features an interior world and an outer world.
The aunt and uncle in Aunt Jennifer's Tigers were not real
people.
The same may be true of this Uncle – he is not real but a
The sounds of the poem is authoritative, like an Uncle’s voice might
sounds – the rhyme is regular/conventional and every line has seven syllables so it is regular/steady/even/consistent like the uncle.
The speaker is a commanding presence speaking from an impressive
building which has a drawing room, a balcony and a gate.
The Uncle calls the people outside a “mob” – they are “sullen”,
discontent, angry and gaze at the house.
This poem doesn’t give us personal details about the life of the uncle,
his job etc. Or how he got all his wealth.
This poem is about politics – it looks at privilege, inheritance, inequality. It is interesting that we see these things from the point of view of the
Opening stanza – atmosphere of menace. The reader
hears the uncle’s distaste in the way he describes the
people outside. He is superior.
Nothing suggests that the people outside are unjustified in
their protest – they are not wrong.
Stanza 2 – the protests are “follies” according to the uncle.
He thinks their presence and their anger will fade – he is
patronising and condescending. He is more concerned for
his opulent possessions.
The mob are associated with “stones” whereas in contrast
Stanza 3 – tone/mood is smug. The uncle is
confident no missiles will be thrown.
He refers to when something like this happened
to his grandfather, whose ruby bowl was
smashed.
He calls the upheaval a “storm” and
Irony – the uncle speaks as if the reader will agree with him – he
presumes he is speaking to like-minded people: this shows how smug, presumptuous and confident he is. He is very self-assured.
By making him speak like this, Rich is making a comment on the attitudes of people who have his view of the world. It is a critique.
The uncle’s main concern is with material wealth and possessions. Again this is a critique. Perhaps Rich is suggesting that his time will come, he shouldn’t be so comfortable in his view of the world.
The earlier age/back in the day is described as a calmer age but the uncle and he feels it is his duty to maintain the divide between
privileged and underprivileged people.
The final line is an interesting image of the USA c. 1950. The uncle does not welcome change.
“Out in the desert we are testing bombs” – we could
be USA military. Can also be the speaker and her
partner.
These first two lines are on their own, so they must
be significant because the poet chose to have them
on their own and at the beginning of them poem.
The tone or mood of the opening is matter-of-fact.
Desert setting – place of controlled nuclear
The “we” of the beginning becomes an “I” and
there is imagery of a stifled individual, a person
labouring to express themselves.
Underground river – suggest rigid restrictions,
oppression, imprisonment. A river in a desert is
usually a sign of hope, but this river is
The 4
thsection looks at the couple’s life together and the
experiences they’ve shared.
They list music, food, religion, the intensity and extremities of
their feelings.
“love letters and suicide notes” suggests an intensely happy
and at times a troubled relationship.
These lines are not obvious or easy to understand because they
refer to a very private and complex experience in the life of a
speaker. How do we describe a relationship anyway? Can it be
summed up in a few experiences/memories?
This verse is quite short-hand, not very detailed – there is a
For the speaker, being in the desert mean silence.
It’s not a new silence, it’s “familiar”, so it was in their
relationship before. Maybe they thought moving to
the desert would help their relationship?
Being in the desert highlights the silence in their
relationship, but maybe it went unnoticed before.
It is the desert where bombs are being tested. Could
The man speaks of nuclear testing
He focuses on the general whereas she looks at
the specifics of their relationship and realises
“Out here I feel more helpless/ with you than
without you”.
He describes the dangers of testing weapons, he
A man? Or men in general?
Coming to the desert – is it a metaphor for a
relationship that’s about to explode?
The relationship is being tested. A huge change is
occurring.
The poem assesses and evaluates their
The end of the poem signals the end of their relationship.
She has to leave – it has been tried, tested and has failed. In his eyes she reads the words EXIT.
The mood at the end is honest acceptance
He paces the floor but can’t confront what’s really happening. The speaker courageously admits the relationship is over.
Men are portrayed as inadequate, ill – equipped to deal with emotions. His emotions are repressed. Is this fair? Does this still apply to men? Have they changed in the last 60 years?
Talking might have solved the problem but the title suggests that it is not possible to talk with a man.
