AUNT JENNIFER’S TIGERS

ADRIENNE RICH
1. Describe the tigers and their movements?
2. Why are they called denizens of the world of green?
3. In what way are the tigers different form Aunt J.?
4. What is Aunt J. occupied with?
5. Why are her fingers fluttering?
6. What do the ring and its weight symbolize?
7. What are the ordeals that Aunt. J. is mastered by?
8. How has Adrienne Rich portrayed women?
9. How do the words denizens and chivalric add to our understanding of the
tiger’s attitude?
10. Why do you think Aunt’s. hands are fluttering through her wool? Why is she
finding the needle so hard to pull?
11. What is suggested by the image massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band?
12. Of what or whom is Aunt J. terrified as depicted in the third stanza?
13. What are the ordeals Aunt J. is surrounded by? Why is it significant for the
poet use the word ringed?
14. Why do you think Aunt. J. created animals so different from her own
character?
15. Interpret the symbols in the poem.
16. What is the attitude of the reader towards Aunt J.?
17. Adrienne Rich’s Aunt Jennifer’s tigers tells us a story about a woman.
Comment.
18. Why do you think is Aunt Jennifer sewing tigers?
19. What is the main theme of the poem?
20. Do you think Aunt J. rebelled? How?
21. Aunt J. tigers serve as a sharp contrast to the psyche of Aunt Jennifer.
Comment.
22. What is the reality of Aunt Jennifer and women in her position all over the
world, as painted by the poet in the last stanza?
23. What are Aunt. J. tigers doing? How do they look like?
24. Where do they live? Are they fearles? Give reasons.
25. How do the tigers pace?
26. What were Aunt J. fingers fluttering through?
27. How was she pulling the needle?
28. What was lying heavily? Where?
29. What was up[on Aunt J. hand? How did it sit there?
30. Why are her hands called ‘terrified?
31. What are they still ringed with?
32. Where did she make the tigers?

Your passion will define your limits… Strive for more.

 33. What will happen to her tigers after death?
34. What do you learn about Aunt J. tigers on reading the poem?
35. How has Aunt J. created her tigers? What traits of tigers do they reveal?
36. What difficulty does Aunt face while making her tigers and why?
37. What is the weight that lies heavy on Aunt hand? How is it associated with
her husband?
38. How will Aunt hands look when she is dead?
39. What will happen to aunt’s tigers when she is dead?
40. Describe the poetic device used in the poem. (Symbolism. Metaphor –bright
topaz, Alliteration – sleek chivalric certainty, Imagery – terrified hands,
ringed with ordeal.)
41. “Aunt’ Jennifer’s tigers are totally different form her own character”.
Highlight this contrast.

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