Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich

PC: Poetry Foundation

Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. 
They do not fear the men beneath the tree; 
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Prance: leap and dance 

Topaz: yellow and golden precious stone

Denizen: a citizen

Pace: walk at a steady speed

Sleek: smooth

Chivalry: the code of conduct followed by medieval knights (soldiers). Chivalry includes grace, honour, kindness, respect toward others etc.

Aunt Jennifer as described by the speaker is busy sewing a forest scene on a sheet of cloth. Her needle work is definitely neat and clear as the scenery she was stitching depicted the following:

1.   Tigers leaping (prancing, jumping) around.

2.   They were golden-coloured (topaz) and shining (means a sunny day in which their yellowish-golden fur glistened)

3.   The bright colours of the tigers were all the more emphasized against a background of green (obviously green grass, trees and plants showing a jungle)

4.   There were men standing beneath the trees, possibly hunters, but the tigers weren’t scared of them.

The needle of Aunt Jennifer has created a beautiful, sunny, jungle scene. A few tigers were leaping across the tapestry. They are relaxed and confident as they belong to the jungle world. They inhabited (denizens) the forest and were fearless in their home territory. There were some hunters standing in the green forest but the tigers weren’t scared of them. The golden predators (tigers) were walking smoothly and gracefully. They were like warriors, full of charm and beauty. They would not harm the hunters unless they first try to harm them (a code of chivalry of not attacking unless provoked)

Metaphor: Bright topaz (tigers were compared to a gemstone)

Imagery: PRANCE, GREEN WORLD, MEN BENEATH TREES all paint their pictures very clearly in our minds.

Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull. 
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

Fluttering: trembling

Massive: huge

Now the contrast has been added to make more sense out of the first stanza. If you look at the first stanza you will find it speaks of confident, fearless, strong and powerful tigers who aren’t scared of anyone.

In the second stanza we have a woman who has created them i.e. Aunt Jennifer whose fingers are trembling while she pulls the needle in and out of the cloth to create that beautiful scene.

Fluttering fingers show weakness, fragility, anxiety and fear. Why do her fingers tremble when she pulls out something as light as a needle? The answer is in the next line. She is a married woman and there is wedding ring on her finger. The ring is not “massive” but the weight of the ring is.

The weight of the ring represents the responsibilities that come along with it. The duties of a married woman include the household chores, forgetting her own needs and dreams to nurture those of her husband's and children's. We can also assume Uncle (Aunt Jennifer’s husband) to be an abusive, controlling and dominating man thus her fingers are anxious and frightened.

Aunt Jen is too weak now to hold the weight of that ring, marriage had taken its toll on her body and mind. The simplest of tasks i.e. sewing with a needle is too much for that poor oppressed woman.

So what is the irony here? The irony is of a weak and terrified woman creating such magnificent confident tigers.

Alliteration: Fluttering Fingers

Hyperbole: Massive weight of ring

Metaphor: Ring means the responsibilities of her married life.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by. 
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

Terrified: scared, still frightened of Uncle.

Ringed: surrounded with

Ordeals: Trials and sufferings

The poem turns gruesome here. The speaker shares her fears for Aunt Jen. Marriage is an eternal contract. According to many belief systems, marriage is a never-ending bond, it doesn’t matter whether the marriage was a happy or a sad one, it doesn’t matter whether one was forced into it or not; marriage would last eternity.

So, when Aunt Jennifer dies and finally finds freedom from the oppressive marriage she had to suffer her whole life, she would still not be free from it. Her finger will carry the weight of her wedding band (reminds one of chains of bondage) and even when her fingers turn to dust, the wedding ring would still lie in her grave for all eternity.

Look at the word “mastered”; clearly shows us how much a slave-like situation she was living in. She had been ruled by her wifely obligations and she wasn’t happy. Her life had been full of “ordeals” but if she was hoping to be free from them after death, she was mistaken. The thing (the ring/marriage) that brought her those sufferings and pain (ordeals) would still remain with her inside her grave. See how the word terrified has been used? How can hands be terrified? Here, Aunt Jen's hands have been used to represent her self. Her "terrified hands" actually mean, a terrified Aunt Jen herself.

Yet the tigers she had stitched on a piece of cloth (panel) would remain young and strong forever. They had been immortalized by Aunt Jen as art work. They would never die. (Can you see the line cropping up here? A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER.) The screen made of cotton cloth and woolen threads would keep giving pleasure to all who see it on the wall and they would remember Aunt Jen, a woman who died as a suppressed woman but her tigers would keep her memory alive.

Alliteration: Prance, Proud.