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Analysis and comments on Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich

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Comment 16 of 26, added on August 15th, 2007 at 3:56 AM.

IT IS A VERY DEVASTATING POEM ESPECIALLY ON THE WOMEN'S PART

ANNALYN RAMOS from Philippines
Comment 15 of 26, added on June 9th, 2007 at 2:15 PM.

i think that the poem is an expression of
feelings,desires,emotions,problems and conflicts of poetess on the part of
every woman.is is the outcome of deep seated fear,search for
assertion,disgust for slavery, conflict,greatness of struggle and hope
ultimately

maryam mir from Pakistan
Comment 14 of 26, added on March 24th, 2007 at 5:18 PM.

The imagery brought forth by this poem is of a woman, oppressed by
marriage, the world that she lives in, and ordeals in her past, seeking a
refuge and not unlike many that came before her. Her refuge is art a world
that she creates and has complete control over. She is given hope by this
refuge and is able to continue her life with the oppressor.

Kayla from United States
Comment 13 of 26, added on April 2nd, 2006 at 10:54 AM.

I read a version of this poem where the first and last lines contained
forms of the verb "stride" instead of "prance." I'm wondering if there's an
error here or if this is just a different edit of the poem...I much prefer
"stride" and it's connotations, the "prancing" almost bothers me! Doesn't
it just trivialize the weight of these tigers?

Rachel from United States
Comment 12 of 26, added on February 16th, 2006 at 9:24 AM.

adrienne rich herself experienced the power of male wisdom in the
society.her experiences in life has led her to foray in the path of radical
feminism,and "aunt jenny's tigers" is a representative poem of that
path.aunt is "ringed with the ordeals" and is mastered by her husband.her
hands are so weak that she is not able to handle the "ivory needle".thus,it
is imperative that the aunt is impotent to affect a change,or rather has
been converted into a weak entity.this speaks volumes of the biased
matrimonial balance in the modern society,though things are changing,Rich's
view still holds relevance as her speech cannot be silenced..

s.srinivasan iyer from India
Comment 11 of 26, added on December 20th, 2005 at 2:29 AM.

Aunt jeni is a spokesperson to the woman of the entire world. Her tigers
not only represent her free will but there is a message in the depiction of
the Tigers i.e the women should be as brave and courageous as tigers in the
jungal.They should not be exploited by paterarchal social order.They are
not slave to men but they as free as men are.

farhat usman from Pakistan
Comment 10 of 26, added on December 18th, 2005 at 10:00 AM.

adrienne rich raises her concern against patriarchy by emphasizing the
weight of man's control in a matrimony.the power that society allocates to
a man,isnot allocatede to a woman.rich simply describes the dominance of
patriarchy in the society.

srinivasan from India
Comment 9 of 26, added on September 22nd, 2005 at 1:35 PM.

Basically, Aunt Jens attitude towards marriage may just be the influence of
her culture and tradition where it is expected of the woman to become a
housewife. However even willing to become one successfully, she finds
herself caught up in an enduring struggle of how she can acomplish this.

S from Netherlands
Comment 8 of 26, added on May 31st, 2005 at 2:51 AM.

Another point that most of us seems to have missed is that the
tiger's-which on the one hand embody aunt jennifer's free spirit as opposed
to her body being 'mastered by ordeal', on the other it also show's her
thwarted sense of freedom. Tiger's are particularly described as moving in
'chivalric certainity' and that has male patriarchal connotations. Her
rebellion reflects her repression in that she expresses it, ironically, in
the language of the oppressor. Moreover, the 'men under the tree' and
tigers prancing in a 'world of green' reek heavily of colonialism- another
form of oppression- Buddha as the man under the tree and tigers both are
allusions to Imperialism in india. Besides aunt jennifer working with
'ivory needles' also has imperialistic connotations- this time reminding
one of the spoils of africa.

xarak from Algeria
Comment 7 of 26, added on June 6th, 2005 at 2:27 PM.

Feminism aside, you are all missing a crucial clue which opens up the
entire poem: the allusion to Ovid's story of Philomela.

A from United States

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Information about Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Poet: Adrienne Rich
Poem: Aunt Jennifer's Tigers
Year: 1951
Added: Feb 20 2003
Viewed: 38746 times


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