The poet portrays the marriage of Jennifer as an unhappy one for her. Chivalric — Behaving in a courteous, gallant way like the knights of old. They are certain of their place in the world and will allow no one or nothing to interfere. The tigers may be attractive and healthy, or they may contain that male quality of suaveness which is so often insincere. And the poem's conclusion celebrates the animal images as a kind of triumph, transcending the limited conditions of their maker's life. However, Aunt Jennifer and her situation certainly are compelling in action and belief. They prance step high , and are sleek smooth and glossy as well as chivalric.
In the meantime, she will deal with her problems by escaping from them. In fact, sewing is probably what she does most of the day when she's not caring for her husband. The fear of her husband has gone so deep into her being that even death cannot liberate her from the chains of her mental suppression. However, the tigers may be pacing back and forth, because their movement is restricted to their tree top since there are men present below them. The speaker then tells us that, when Aunt Jennifer is dead, she will still wear the ring that symbolizes the marriage that trapped her. Aunt Jennifer is making her tigers in the panel.
So her hands are terrified. Probably, this explains why in her creations, Aunt Jennifer chose to utilize ivory needles just to express the oppression women undergo in the hands of men Hub-Pages, 1. The tigers used to fear the men. This is suggested by the pacing of their movement in the last line of the first stanza as opposed the prancing movement in the first line of the same stanza. Short Answer Type Questions Q1. Throughout the 1960s, she wrote several collections.
Male domination used to haunt Aunt Jennifer throughout her life. She lives a life of inequality. It is not clear whether the speaker is trying to make clear that marriage is cruel. This bulk is probably more emotional and mental than physical. Somebody please tell me what you think? Denizens : here, an animal that lives or is found in a particular place.
So, we have her at work sewing something, but she's not very certain of her work and it seems to be giving her difficulty. The poem therefore provides a negative picture of marriage. Sheep is a term which is often used to describe people who are conventional or traditional. Again the poet concentrates on the hands of Aunt Jennifer, using language that is pretty extreme : dead, terrified, ringed, ordeals, mastered. One of these awards was the prestigious Yale Younger Poets prize, awarded by none other than himself.
Moreover, they are different from other tigers. It gives a clear picture of the ideas that Rich was preoccupied with. The tigers created by Aunt Jennifer are seen to be glorious; they maintain the strength as well as assertiveness. She had a need to escape, to somehow perservere in what might have been an abusive marriage. But in case of Aunt Jennifer, it has become a symbol of torture and oppression. She was the elder of two daughters.
The tigers are to Aunt Jennifer the ultimate creatures of self-actualization. She tries to come up to the expectation of her husband. They are moving quickly by raising the front legs and jumping forwards on the back legs. The poem's structure also draws the personal into the political and the political into the personal. Although this poem was written in the mid-twentieth century, it is still currently important and can be interesting for our contemporary society as well. Her tigers are only Lancelots, attractive because illicit, but finally seducing her to another submission to the male. According to the comments of others, it already is a part of someone's curriculum.
Her husband is her master. It means they treat women with respect. Could the speaker then be implying that Eve was right in eating the forbidden fruit and not in fact weak, or vice versa? We all have a symbolic Aunt Jennifer: a woman whom we admire, but who has perhaps been held back in life because of her gender. They are set in motion. The first line of the second stanza states that Aunt Jennifer is occupied with wool. There is repetition of various sounds as indicated in the next few bullet points.
Rather, the use of the ring by Rich is symbolic. Topaz — A yellow or golden semi-precious stone. Before we learn… 1758 Words 8 Pages The Poetry of Adrienne Rich Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland in the year of 1929. As a person who self-identifies as a male, reading about the unfair oppression of Aunt Jennifer by another man forced me to involuntarily envision my own… 818 Words 4 Pages The Use of Symbols in Adrienne Rich's Poem, Aunt Jennifer's Tigers Freedom has always been an important value in the United States that most people are not willing to give up. She does not seem powerful at all. .
An EndRhyme is arhyme that occurs at the ends of lines. Two years later, she published her second volume of poetry, The Diamond Cutters. While a woman can never free herself from the oppressive authority of her male counterpart, the male, on the other hand will go on enjoying his authoritative arrogance and ferocity without any fear of regrets. The tone becomes sad and even creepy at times in describing the life of Aunt Jennifer. An ordeal implies long term experience so we can take it that this woman had to endure a long suffering marriage, oppressed by her domineering husband.