Class 12th Eng.Core Flamingo P-5 Aunt Jennifer's Tiger, Questions and answers Theme Message Characters explanation

Poem-6 Aunt Jennifer's Tiger by Adrienne Rich

Annotations

1- Prance -jump

2-Screen- panel/wall

3-Bright Topaz- yellow brownish colour

4-Denizens- dwellers

5-Sleek- shining and we'll groomed

6-Pace- run

7-Chivalric- honourable 

and brave

8- Certainty - with full confidence

9- Fluttering - trembling

10-Massive weight - heavy burden

11-Ordeal- difficult experience

12-Ringed- encircled

13- Ivory - made of elephant teeth 

Q1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes?

Ans: Like all beasts of prey, the tigers are the denizens of the forest. They live far away from human settlements. They are called ‘chivalric.’ This indicates the majestic and honourable position that they occupy in the world of animals. So, the use of the words ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ adds to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes.

Q2. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are ‘fluttering through her wool’ in the second stanza? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?

Ans: Aunt Jennifer is weaving tigers on the panel. Her hands are moving about her wool. She is finding the needle quite hard to pull. The weight of years of her married life is lying heavy on her hand. This makes the pulling of the neddle so hard.

Q3. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of uncle’s wedding band’?

Ans: It suggests the weight of the harsh and tough experience of Aunt Jennifer’s married life. The image is quite suggestive. The wedding band is symbolic. It represents the unbreakable bond of marriage between the husband and the wife.

Q4. Of what or whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified in the third stanza?

Ans: In the third stanza, the poet refers to Aunt Jennifer’s ‘terrified hands’. The old unhappy memories are still fresh in her mind. She had passed through many testing and horrible times during her married life. These ordeals crushed and suppressed her. Their effect is still visible. So, she is still ringed with those ordeals that dominated her life.

Q5. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by? Why is it significant that the” poet uses the word ‘ringed”! What are the different meanings of ‘ringed’ in the poem?

Ans: The poem addresses the experiences of marriage in the midst of constrictions. The word ‘ringed’ is significant. It suggests that the vicious grip or her unhappy married life is still holding her tightly. The word ‘ringed’ has been used in two ways. First is the conventional

use. Here ring is a symbol of the sacred bond of marriage. The other is the figurative use of ‘ringed’. It means encircled or surrounded

Q6. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals that are so different from her own character? What might the poet be suggesting, through this difference?

Ans: The tigers are ‘prancing’. They pace in ‘sleek chivalric certainty’. They ‘do not fear’ the men beneath the tree. Thus, they are symbols of strength, fierceness and beauty. Aunt Jennifer, on the other hand, is weak and terrified. Her hands are finding it difficult to pull through her wool. The massive weight of the wedding band sits heavily on her hand. Her terrified hands are still ringed by the ordeals of married life. The contrast heightens the intensity.

Q7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.

Ans: Adrienne Rich’s ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, is rich in symbolism. ‘The massive weight of wedding band’ symbolises ordeals, hardships and worries of married life. ‘Terrified hands’, and ‘ringed with ordeals’ also indicate those unpleasant experiences that are still clinging to Aunt Jennifer physically and mentally. ,

Q8. Do you sympathise with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?

Ans: Yes, we do sympathise with Aunt Jennifer. She has experienced hardships and ordeals during her married life. The attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer is equally sympathetic. The poet gives many suggestive images and symbols to present an old lady who has passed through painful experiences as well as unpleasant and terrifying periods during her married life.

Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:
1. 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.
Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet of these lines.
(b) What are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers doing? How do they look like?
(c) Where do they live? Are they fearless? Give an example.
(d) How do they pace?
Answers:
(а) The poem is Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers. The poet is Adrienne Rich.
(b) They are jumping across a screen or a wall. They look like shining yellow topaz.
(c) They live in green forests. They are fearless. They don’t fear the men under the tree.
(d) They run with a well-groomed, honourable confidence.

2. 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.
Questions
(a)What were Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through?
(b)How was she pulling the needle?
(c)What was lying heavily? Where?
(d)What was upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand? How did it sit there?
Answers:
(a) Aunt Jennifer’s fingers were fluttering through her wool.
(b) She was finding even the ivory needle hard to pull.
(c) The weight of Uncle’s wedding band was lying heavily on her hand.
(d) There was uncle’s wedding band upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand. It sat heavily there.

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

Questions

(a) Why are Aunt Jennifer’s hands called ‘terrified’’?

(b) What are they still ringed with?

(c) Where did she make the tigers?

(d) What will happen to her tigers after her death?

Answers:

(а) Her hands are called terrified because they passed through very hard and bitter experience of married life.

(b) They are still ringed with those hard and testing difficulties which possessed her dining her life.

(c) She made the tigers in the panel.

(d) Her tigers will go on jumping ahead, proud and unafraid even after her death

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