CBSE Class 12 English Poem 5 Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary, Line by Line Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings and Literary Devices from Flamingo Book
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers – Here is the Class 12 English Flamingo Book Poem 5 Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary and Detailed explanation of the Lesson along with meanings of difficult words. Also, the explanation is followed by the literary devices used in the Poem
- Theme of the Poem
- Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary
- Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary in Hindi
- Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Video Explanation
- Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary and Explanation
Related:
Theme of the Poem
The battle for a woman’s individuality and self-expression in a patriarchal culture is the theme of the poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” from the Class 12 English Flamingo textbook. The poem depicts Jennifer, the speaker’s aunt, and the motif of tigers that she embroiders on a tapestry. The tiger motif is used to represent Aunt Jennifer’s ferocious personality and her need for freedom and self-expression. The poem also considers the limitations and restraints placed on women by society, especially in terms of gender roles and expectations. The speaker implies that although Aunt Jennifer struggles to fully express herself in her daily life, she is able to do so only through her embroidered art.
Top
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary – The poet expresses the inner feelings of a woman – Aunt Jennifer. The aunt is embroidering a motif comprising of energetic, fearless tigers moving freely around the bright greenery. She is living a life of submissiveness to her husband’s command. Her acts are dominated by him and she fears him constantly. This pattern of the free and fearless tigers reflects her inner desire to live a free and fearless life. The tigers are graceful, elegant and bright.
Aunt Jennifer’s fingers tremble as she embroiders. She is old but still fears her husband. She does not enjoy the freedom to do anything as per her wish. She is scared doing the embroidery too and fears his wrath. Since the day she got married, she has been fulfilling the demands of her husband. The wedding ring on her hand is a constant reminder that she belongs to her husband. The burden of the demanding marriage has exhausted her. The torment will not end until her death.
Even after her death, the ring will remain on her hand and she will never be free. On the other hand, the tigers that she is embroidering will continue to move around freely forever. Her desire of freedom and fearlessness will live on through her tigers.
Top
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary in Hindi
कवि एक महिला की आंतरिक भावनाओं को व्यक्त करता है – आंटी जेनिफर । आंटी एक आकृति की कढ़ाई कर रही है जिसमें ऊर्जावान, निडर बाघ शामिल हैं जो चमकदार हरियाली के चारों ओर स्वतंत्र रूप से घूम रहे हैं। वह अपने पति की आज्ञा के प्रति अधीनता का जीवन जी रही है। उसकी हरकतें उस पर हावी हैं और ऐसा लगता है कि आंटी अपने पति से वह उससे लगातार डरती है। स्वतंत्र और निडर बाघों का यह पैटर्न एक स्वतंत्र और निडर जीवन जीने की उनकी आंतरिक इच्छा को दर्शाता है। बाघ, सुंदर और चमकीले होते हैं।
कढ़ाई करते हुए आंटी जेनिफर की उंगलियां कांपती हैं। वह बूढ़ी है लेकिन फिर भी अपने पति से डरती है। उसे अपनी इच्छा के अनुसार कुछ भी करने की स्वतंत्रता का आनंद नहीं मिलता है। वह कढ़ाई करने से भी डरती है और उसके क्रोध से डरती है। जिस दिन से उसकी शादी हुई है, वह अपने पति की मांगों को पूरा कर रही है। उसके हाथ की शादी की अंगूठी लगातार याद दिलाती है कि वह अपने पति की है। शादी की मांग के बोझ ने उसे थका दिया है। उसकी मृत्यु के बाद भी यह तक पीड़ा समाप्त नहीं होगी।
उसकी मृत्यु के बाद भी अंगूठी उसके हाथ में रहेगी और वह कभी मुक्त नहीं होगी। दूसरी ओर, जिन बाघों को पर वह कढ़ाई कर रही है, वे हमेशा के लिए स्वतंत्र रूप से घूमते रहेंगे। उसकी स्वतंत्रता और निडरता की इच्छा उसके बाघों के माध्यम से जीवित रहेगी।
ABOUT THE POET
- Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
- American poet, essayist and feminist.
- One of the most widely read and influenced poets of the second half of the 20th century.
- She talks about a woman’s experiences in her married life.
- She has tried to explore the inner feelings of a woman who is living under the dominance of men.
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Class 12 Video Explanation
Top
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary and Explanation (Stanza wise)
POEM FIRST STANZA
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.
Summary and Explanation
- The poet is talking about a lady whom she addresses as aunt, Jennifer.
- She is embroidering a piece of cloth. It could be a table cloth or a wall hanging.
- The pattern shows tigers who are moving and jumping around all over the fabric.
- They are bright yellow in colour like the colour of the topaz stone (use of metaphor).
- The dense green forest background is their home.
- They are the proud and fearless citizens of the forest.
- Here is a contrast between Aunt Jennifer and her tigers. The tigers are fearless but this lady, who is embroidering them is not so.
- The tigers look elegant, shining and full of the gentleman’s grace.
Explanation of the poem passage above: The poet is describing a lady whom she addresses as Aunt Jennifer. She says that Aunt Jennifer is doing embroidery on a piece of cloth which could be a table cloth or a wall hanging. She has designed it with beautiful tigers which are running fearlessly in the green forest. She has described their beauty by comparing them with a precious yellow stone known as topaz. She says that they appear bright yellow in the green backdrop of the forest. They are fearless and they are not affected by the presence of men. Here we can sense the contrast of behavior between the tigers and aunt, though the tigers designed by her are fearless but she herself is afraid of her husband. Further, the poet says that the tigers are proud and fearless citizens of the forests. They are very shiny and elegant.
Literary Devices
Rhyme scheme: aabb
Anaphora: use of same word in two consecutive lines (they do not … and they pace in…)
Metaphor: Use of topaz to describe the yellow color of tigers (Bright topaz)
POEM SECOND STANZA
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.
Summary and Explanation
- The lady’s fingers are trembling with the fear of her husband.
- She is pursuing her hobby in her free time but probably, she is still afraid of her husband who could scold her.
- Her fingers are so tired of working endlessly all her life
- The needle is also heavy for her to pull out of the cloth.
- The words ‘uncle’s wedding band’ as the band was bought by her husband, it is his till today.
- The lady is dependent on her husband.
- She is still burdened by the weight of the ring. ‘weight’ means the encirclement or trapping that has fallen upon her by getting married to him, she has been burdened by the obligations of married life, has become the man’s property.
- She has been living a demanding life due to which she has worn out in her old age.
Explanation of the poem passage above: Here the poet describes the fear of Aunt Jennifer towards her husband. She says that while she is doing embroidery, her fingers are quivering (shaking) with fear of her husband. Her husband doesn’t approve of her hobby of embroidery. Therefore, she trembles while she is embroidering the piece of cloth. It has become difficult for her to pull her needle up and down. Then she describes the wedding ring which was given by uncle to Aunt Jennifer on their wedding day. She says that it is a kind of burden for her to wear this ring. She has been tortured by her husband so much that the wedding ring which could have been a beautiful gift for her seems like a burden to her. She has faced so many difficulties in her married life that the little ring is described as a heavy band on her trembling fingers. This means that the ring is associated with some bad experiences in the form of torture she has faced because of her husband’s dominating behaviour.
Literary device:
Rhyme scheme: aabb
Alliteration: ‘f’ sound is repeated in finger fluttering
POEM THIRD STANZA
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.
Summary and Explanation
- Her wish to live a free, fearless life is indicated by her choice of design – tigers.
- It shows her innermost desire of being strong, fearless which has been overpowered by her husband.
- Probably, her ordeal will end upon her death.
- Her frightened, shaking fingers will be put to rest.
- But still, even after death, the ring shall remain on her hand, i.e. her husband’s rule over her is not yet over!
- After her death, her desire of freedom and fearlessness shall remain alive in these tigers which she has embroidered.
Explanation of the poem passage above: The poet says that one can easily sense aunt’s desire for freedom and fearlessness through her design of tigers. Further she says that it is not possible for aunt to achieve this freedom during her lifetime. She will attain it only after her death but here also the irony of her life is that still, she will be tied up with shackles in the form of her husband’s wedding ring. The ring was the sole proof of the tortures which she had faced from her husband. On the other hand, there are the tigers designed by Aunt Jennifer which will always depict her desire of living a fearless life by jumping proudly and bravely on the piece of cloth.
Literary devices
Rhyme scheme: aabb
alliteration: ‘p’ is repeated in prancing proud
New words Meaning
Prance : walk or move around with high springy steps.
Topaz : a bright yellow coloured stone.
Denizens : here, an animal that lives or is found in a particular place.
Sleek : elegant.
Chivalric : being courteous esp. to women, an act of a gentleman.
Ordeals: extremely severe tests or experiences.
Prancing : to move around proudly.
Fluttering : to move in quick, irregular motions as if being agitated.
Top
Class 12 Important Videos Links
Class 12 English Poem Summary and Explanation
| My Mother at Sixty-Six Poem 1 Explanation | Keeping Quiet Poem 2 Explanation |
| A Thing of Beauty Poem 3 Explanation | A Roadside Stand |
| Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Poem 6 Explanation |
Also See :
- CBSE Class 12 English Notes, Lesson Explanation, Question Answers
- CBSE Class 12 English MCQ Question Answers
- Class 12 English Flamingo Book Chapter wise word meanings
- Class 12 English Flamingo Poems Word meanings
- Class 12 English Vistas Book Word meanings
- CBSE Class 12 English Important Question Answers
- Character Sketch of Class 12 English
Class 12 English Poem Summary and Explanation
| My Mother at Sixty-Six Poem 1 Explanation | Keeping Quiet Poem 2 Explanation |
| A Thing of Beauty Poem 3 Explanation | A Roadside Stand |
| Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Poem 6 Explanation |
Click Here for Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers MCQs
Click Here to Watch Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Summary Video
Click Here to Watch Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers MCQs Video
Click Here to Watch Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Question Answers Video
Click Here to Watch Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Important Question Answers Video