Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Poem Summary

The poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” explores the themes of confinement, freedom, and artistic expression through the contrasting images of Aunt Jennifer and the tigers she embroiders.

Aunt Jennifer is presented as a woman trapped in a suffocating marriage. The “massive weight” of her wedding band symbolizes the burden of her marital obligations, while her trembling fingers highlight her fear and lack of agency.

The tigers, on the other hand, represent the freedom and power that Aunt Jennifer longs for but cannot attain in her own life. They are described as “bright topaz denizens” who “pace in sleek chivalric certainty,” free from the constraints that bind Aunt Jennifer.

Through her embroidery, Aunt Jennifer finds a way to escape her reality and express her yearning for freedom. The vibrant tigers, symbols of strength and independence, become a testament to her inner spirit and the life she could have led.

The poem ends with a bittersweet note. Even though Aunt Jennifer will eventually succumb to the “ordeals” that have mastered her, the tigers in her tapestry will continue to “prance, proud and unafraid,” representing the lasting power of art and the human spirit’s enduring desire for freedom.

Key Points

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” is a poem by American poet Adrienne Rich, first published in her book “A Change of World” in 1951. The poem is told from the perspective of an anonymous speaker and describes a woman, Aunt Jennifer, who crafts vibrant tapestry panels depicting tigers as a mental escape from her unhappy marriage.

Adrienne Cecile Rich (May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1951. In 1953, Rich married Alfred Conrad, and they separated in 1970.

Rich was called “one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century” and was credited with bringing “the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse”.

Her first collection of poetry, ‘A Change of World,’ was published in 1951. In the 1960s, she won two Guggenheim Fellowships. Rich shared, alongside Allen Ginsberg, the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry.

Structure and Rhyme Scheme

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich is a three-stanza poem that is separated into stanzas of four lines, known as quatrains.

These quatrains follow a simple rhyme scheme of AABB, with the couplets changing end sounds from stanza to stanza.

While there is evidence of metrical patterns in “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” it is not entirely consistent. There are sections of the poem in which Rich uses nearly perfect iambic pentameter and moments where she moves away from it and uses trochees instead.

Word Meaning