Aunt Jennifer's Tiger by Adrienne Rich - Summary - Explanation - NCERT 12th
The poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tiger" was written by Adrienne Rich, an American poet. The poem subtly reflects the burden of a woman due to the responsibilities and duties of married life on her. A woman has to handle the family and adapts herself to her husband and everything there.
The poem begins with the narrator describing the "chivalric" and bright yellow-coloured tiger walking like a royal king upon its green world i.e. forest. These tigers are not afraid of human beings who sit beneath the trees. They just roam there in their care-free and elegant gait.
The Tigers the poet is talking about are not real tigers, they are the creative work of Aunt Jennifer who used her sewing and pattern designing skill to create them on screen i.e a cloth.
Aunt Jennifer's fingers faint while pursuing her hobby. Now she has a hard time even pulling the needle. Perhaps, it's due to her mental and physical fatigue of carrying out the marriage and its demands. The words "massive weight" clearly symbolises the burden of it on her.
The narrator assumes that when her aunt dies, her fingers would then too "ringed with ordeals" i.e she can't break free from the responsibilities of her marriage. But her beautiful and fearless tigers will still live on in their glory, walking proudly and without any obligations like their creator.
The contrast between Aunt Jennifer and her tigers is an antithesis. Aunt Jennifer lives under the fear of her husband and married life and she is tired and weak. Whereas the Tigers are "chivalric", "proud and unafraid." The Aunt channelises all her fearlessness and courage in her tigers.
The poem begins with the narrator describing the "chivalric" and bright yellow-coloured tiger walking like a royal king upon its green world i.e. forest. These tigers are not afraid of human beings who sit beneath the trees. They just roam there in their care-free and elegant gait.
The Tigers the poet is talking about are not real tigers, they are the creative work of Aunt Jennifer who used her sewing and pattern designing skill to create them on screen i.e a cloth.
Aunt Jennifer's fingers faint while pursuing her hobby. Now she has a hard time even pulling the needle. Perhaps, it's due to her mental and physical fatigue of carrying out the marriage and its demands. The words "massive weight" clearly symbolises the burden of it on her.
The narrator assumes that when her aunt dies, her fingers would then too "ringed with ordeals" i.e she can't break free from the responsibilities of her marriage. But her beautiful and fearless tigers will still live on in their glory, walking proudly and without any obligations like their creator.
The contrast between Aunt Jennifer and her tigers is an antithesis. Aunt Jennifer lives under the fear of her husband and married life and she is tired and weak. Whereas the Tigers are "chivalric", "proud and unafraid." The Aunt channelises all her fearlessness and courage in her tigers.