Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Women who are dominated by their husbands live their lives in a state of mental confinement. In the poem Aunt Jennifers Tigers, the poet Adrienne Rich expresses the life Aunt Jennifer wishes to lead through artistic creations as she is trapped in an abusive marriage. Her tapestries portray her inner feelings conveying the constant terror shes living in. The only way for Aunt Jennifer to escape the expectations of her husband is to live on, after death, through her artwork. The tigers in Aunt Jennifers needlework symbolize her longing for freedom. She is expressing her pain through art, creating a picture of how shed like her own life to be. The tigers are not scared of men, as Aunt Jennifer fears her husband; they are powerful and brave animals. They do not fear the men beneath t ... She lived her life distancing herself from her controlling husband, using her creativity to make an imaginary world, showing that she had a vibrant inner life tucked away deep inside her. Adrienne Rich proves this statement throughout the poem, revealing that women are sometimes treated with unfairly and with inequality. All that shes been through will remain unforgotten but escaping through her artwork creates a new chapter in Aunt Jennifers life, revealing a sense of faith and accomplishment. She couldnt escape this lifestyle because in this time, society supported the marriage and these types of gender roles. It is devastating to see a womans selfidentity and worth torn away from her, leaving her completely miserable. Aunt Jennifers husband is in fact her owner. The abuse Aunt Jennifer endured was an unspoken topic, so she was forced to continue living a nightmare, while creating a fantasy world through her art. She is mastered by him, as if shes his prisoner under his control and ruling. The tigers display values such as strength and fearlessness that Aunt Jennifer evidently lacks. Her terrified hands show that her husband terrorizes her. The massive weight of Uncles wedding band, is not the actual ring that places this weight upon her, but the life that has become as a result of Aunt Jennifers accepting of the ring. When Aunt Jennifer is faced with death, she is given a legacy through her art, and is finally free. In her needlework, the tigers are described as prancing, proud and unafraid, attributes that Aunt Jennifer deeply desire.
One might say that this is a poem which takes a certain ideological position. It is clearly a 'feminist' poem which is critical of the male world for terrifying and oppressing 'Aunt Jennifer' -- causing her to create an alternate world of freedom, one which she could not inhabit other than imaginatively or aesthetically. The desolating effects of patriarchy are assumed and exposed, in three quatrains. "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" shows that oppression need not be outwardly cruel, but that forcing a role on someone, no matter how comfortable it is, still keeps them down.

Aunt Jennifer is a woman of creative fire and passion, but she has been defined by the rules of others for so long that she is unable to express herself outside of them. The weight of her role in life, as decided by the patriarchy, while not overtly oppressive, is a weight that holds her down until she feels unable to rise. Ultimately, the poem is a tale of hopelessness, of a caged birds inability to sing of freedom because she doesnt know what it is.
The Tigers and Freedom

The piece begins with Aunt Jennifers tigers cavorting bravely through a world of which they are masters. The phrasing of the poem shows the reader the carefree and powerful nature of the beasts, giving it an initial air of freedom and beauty. The tigers dont merely tread through the jungle; they literally prance, carelessly dancing through their world of green. Rich goes on to point out the lack of fear the tigers feel at the presence of man, adding once again to the notion of their natural supremacy. Indeed, in the tigers minds there is no doubt of their place or position, as Rich puts it they possess a chivalric certainty as they tread through the world.
Benevolent Oppression

In contrast, the second stanza of Aunt Jennifers Tigers is a tale of bleak and weighty life. The reader is shown how Aunt Jennifer, encumbered by the burden of her subjugated role, finds life a weary struggle. Yet Rich has chosen not to show Aunt Jennifers oppression in the traditional imagery, shes not shown cleaning or cooking, or doing any work at all, rather, she is shown at leisure, sewing a screen. Yet that act of creation sits heavily upon her, for even the ivory needle [is] hard to pull with the massive weight of Uncles wedding band upon her. By casting the language of Aunt Jennifers subjugation in this manner, Rich makes it more horrible than anything overt or sinister could have done. It is not Aunt Jennifers body that suffers the weight of the mans world, it is her spirit. In the third stanza, Rich pushes the image farther. Aunt Jennifers death is prophesied to have no more hope in it than her life. Just as she was ruled over by man in life, so too will she be mastered in deathtaking to the grave the oppression that defined her existence. The finality of it, that Rich has chosen to show the reader that she has no hope, is the ultimate stroke in defining a woman completely beaten down by the role society has forced upon her, and it sets up beautifully the contrast of the last two lines.

The Enduring Nature of Patriarchy

In the final couplet, Rich returns to the tigers, ripping the reader from the bleak grey world Aunt Jennifer inhabits, and depositing them back into the green and topaz scenery shes created. It seems the reader is shown hope, for the tigers are not dead; they are not caged or conquered. The reader is told that forever, those sleek beasts Aunt Jennifer has created will go on prancing and proud. But then the meaning of Richs poem comes crashing home, shattering the last vestiges of hope that one could find in the tigers, for they are precisely that, tigers, male and strong. Rich has carefully defined the tigers not simply as male, but as chivalric, members of that same kindly oppressive faction that Aunt Jennifer has born the burden of her entire life. The reader is shown that even in art Aunt Jennifer is not free to define herself. She has not crafted a scene of free and strong tigresses. She has not breathed the silent prayer of her soul into an immortal screen; she has simply sublimated herself, once again, to the will of the patriarchy, shoring up its position with her art. Rich leaves the reader here with one final terrible prognostication, as she tells that the tigers, indeed the patriarchal oppression of Aunt Jennifer will go on, prancing, proud, and unafraid.

The copyright of the article Aunt Jennifer's Tigers in American Poetry is owned by Douglas Allen Rhodes. Permission to republish Aunt Jennifer's Tigers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Adrienne Rich

KEEPING QUIET BY PABLO NERUDA

The poet, Neruda, basically questions the way we move through our lives without pausing or caring for the world around us or the suffering of nature, the world and other people. He exhorts the reader to stay still and count till twelve, pause and

look at the world around. He also asks us to think about what we see, how we can bring about change in things that are wrong, stop fighting "green wars" and be friendly to each other and nature for a change.

A Roadside Stand by Robert Frost

The poem compares the lives of people living in cities and the countryside. A small time farmer builds a vegetable stand at the edge of the highway outside his house in the hope that passing cars would buy the produce. He only wants to earn a living, he is not begging for money. However, no cars ever stop and the ones that even glance in the direction of the stand only comment about how the construction spoils the view of the surroundings. The farmer says that the hurt to the view is not as important as the sorrow he feels on being ignored. He only wishes for some money so that he may experience the plush life portrayed by the movies and other media, which the political parties are said to be refusing him. Frost goes on to say that even though these people have benefactors, they are actually selfish and only help these "pitiful kin" to indirectly advantage themselves. The altruists wish to make these villagers completely dependent on them for all their benefits and comforts, thus robbing them of the ability to think for themselves and be independent. Frost then talks about his personal feelings, saying that he can hardly bear the thought of the farmer's dashed hopes. The open windows of the farmer's house seem to wait all day just to hear the sound of a car stopping to make a purchase. However they are always disappointed, as vehicles only stop to ask their way ahead or ask for a gallon of gas.

According to the poet, the progress required has not been found by these country folk ( "the requisite lift of spirit") Their lifestyles provide ample evidence to support this fact. He sometimes feels that it might be best to simply put these people out of their pain and hardships of existence. However, once rational thinking returns to his mind, he wonders how HE would feel if someone offered to do him this supposed service.
A Roadside Stand by Robert Frost In this poem, the poet contrasts the lives of poor and deprived countryside people who struggle to live with the thoughtless city people who dont even bother to notice the roadside stand that these people have put up to sell their goodies. A Lines 1 to 6 The poem starts with the description of the roadside stand and the intention behind it. A small time farmer builds a vegetable stand at the edge of the highway outside his house in the hope that passing cars would buy the produce and earn a bit of the money that supports cities from falling into ruin. He only wants to earn a living, he is not begging for money. Lines 7 to 13 However, no cars ever stop and the ones that even glance in the direction of the stand without any feeling of compassion or relatedness (out of sorts) only comment about how the construction spoils the view of the surroundings or how badly painted the wrongly pointed North and South signs are or to notice without interest the wild berries and squash for sale in the stand or the beautiful mountain scene. Lines 13 to 22 The farmer tells the rich travelers to keep their money if they meant to be mean and that the hurt to the view is not as important as the sorrow he feels on being ignored. He only wishes for some (city) money so that he may experience the plush life (make our beings expand) portrayed by the movies and other media, which the political parties are said to be refusing him. Lines 23 to 31 Frost goes on to say that even though these people have benefactors (good-doers), who plan to relocate them in villages where they can have easy access to the cinema and the store, they are actually selfish (greedy good-doers and beasts of prey) and only help these "pitiful kin" to indirectly advantage themselves. The altruists wish to make these villagers completely dependent on them for all their benefits and comforts, thus robbing them of the ability to think for themselves and be independent. Lines 32 to 43 Frost then talks about his personal feelings, saying that he can hardly bear the thought of the farmer's dashed hopes. The open windows of the farmer's house

seem to wait all day just to hear the sound of a car stopping to make a purchase. However they are always disappointed, as vehicles only stop to enquire the price, to ask their way ahead, to reverse or ask for a gallon of gas. Lines 44 to 51 According to the poet, the progress required has not been found by these country folk (the requisite lift of spirit"). Their lifestyles provide ample evidence to support this fact. He sometimes feels that it might be best to simply put these people out of their pain and hardships of existence. However, once rational thinking returns to his mind, he wonders how HE would feel if someone offered to do him this supposed service.

How do you write an explanation for the poem 'A Thing of Beauty' Endymion by John Keats?
In: Poetry [Edit categories] [Edit]

[Edi t]

This poem is a revolt against the commonplace reality. According to Keats the object of beauty differs from an ordinary object. The ordinary object appeals us only temporarily. Its effect is short lived and its loveliness decreases with the passage of time. But the object of beauty appeals to our senses permanently. It cannot be destroyed by time and space. It is a temporal and its loveliness does not fade. It is a ray of light and hope that consoles man in his miseries and misfortunes. Then Keats mentions the objects of beauty one by one. The sun, the moon, the old trees, the daffodils, the clear streams and the forest which is rich with beautiful flowers-all these objects of beauty are a source of consolation in a world "Where men sit and hear each other groan". Keats further associates the object of beauty with a cluster of flowers and a group of shady trees. One can relax in these surroundings. According to one version, Endymion was visited one night by the moon goddess Selene as he slept on Mount Olympus. She was taken by his

beauty and lay with him that night. He awoke to find her gone, but the dreams she gave him lingered and affected him so much that he asked Zeus to grant him immortality so that he might live in that dreamlike state. Note the parallel between a dreamlike state and the process many artists have compared to the ecstasy of creation. A thing of beauty, whether poem or symphony, is immortal! Its mortal creator passes into nothingness! First Part In this part of the poem, the poet John Keats says that a thing of beauty continues to inspires us throught our life, it never ceases to exist in our heart. With the passage of time, the effect of the thing becomes more profound. The beautiful thing is like a ray of hope amidst the world's miseries. It refreshes our souls, rejuvenates us, and soothes our frayed nerves. It is like a retreat from the ugliness in the world. Everyday, such beautiful things (in nature) bind us to the earth. In spite of all the gloom, selfishness, sadness, dejection, and all things we suffer in this world, the beautiful thing (it might be a scene, an object, or anything which a person finds beautiful) is like a ray of hope amidst it all. Like the sun, the moon shining through this dark curtain, trees, sheep, or flowers for that matter... also the green streams, waterfalls, fountains, musk rose blooms, etc. All tales of heroism which inspire us, give us the courage to fight against all odds... they are an endless source of inspiration. Notes on Poetry:

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum (Themes)

Themes

Poverty The theme of poverty is principal to the poem "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum." Spender creates a crisp image of children in poverty through his descriptions of dire situations and mal-nourished students, revealing a sad, hidden segment of society that was prevalent throughout the world. He is not commenting directly on any particular nation in his poem; instead, he exposes the widespread neglect of children of all nationalities, races, and ethnicities. It is poverty that has caused the students in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" to be "weighed-down," "paper-seeming," diseased, and "twisted." Spender believes this poverty is created through the oppressive power of capitalism. This poem was written during the American Civil Rights movement, and although Spender was British, the injustice that occurred in the United States was a global issue that affected the entire world, especially close English-speaking allies like Britain. Spender was affected by the struggles for equality in the United States because of his staunch dedication to social and political reforms. Although this poem was written during this time of oppressive racial injustice in America, Spender does not directly focus on a select group of underprivileged children, based on race, religion, or creed. Instead, he hones the content of his poem and remarks about the social injustice imposed upon all children, making it much more difficult to ignore. When the spotlight is cast upon a select group of individuals, certain members of particular groups are able to shrug their shoulders or cast a doubtful eye at the authenticity of the group's plight. However, when the spotlight is cast upon children writ large, no one can turn a blind eye. Regardless of their upbringing, history, race, or ethnicity, children are innocent beings dependent on the helping hands of humanity. Without aid, children are effectively left to die, and adults who do not help are left with an undeniable sense of guilt and worthlessness. Spender cultivates these emotions in his poem and uses them to his advantage, delivering a powerful message about poverty, its effect on children, and the oppressive power of money.
Spender does not appreciate the "donations" given to the children, because he sees them as an indirect intervention of capitalistic society in schools. These donations are not given for the good of the children's education but for the sole purpose of keeping them in position as lower-class citizens. This end is achieved in that the donations project a world outside the slum that is seemingly unattainable and thus press the children into lives of unfulfilled dreams or of crime the delusional last resort for gaining wealth and escaping the slum. Spender asks for a pragmatic shift in the way these donations are given and used a Communist approach in which money empowers the children to truly explore books, maps, the world, and themselves. In other words, it would give them the chance to pursue education without the pretense of temptation or a future of unfulfilled aspirations.

Stephen Spender 1964

"An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" was first published in 1964 in Stephen Spender's Selected Poems. The poem has since appeared in several collections, including Collected Poems 19281985, published in 1985. "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" is perhaps the best example of Spender's political voice resonating throughout a poem. In this poem, Spender expresses his ideological positions on government, economics, and education. The students in this classroom are underprivileged and malnourished. The capitalistic government is supposed to supply equal opportunity for education, but the classroom in the slum offers little hope for change or progress for its lower-class students. This poem, written during the time of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, is fitting both in its commentary about race issues in American education and as a Socialist proclamation against capitalism and social injustice in general. Although Spender was British, his extreme left-leaning political ideologies were in response to the global question concerning social injustice. His poem does not explicitly name any country, location, race, or citizenship. Spender's intent was to shed light on social injustices worldwide; regardless of Spender's own ethnicity, the hotbed of this global struggle was the American Civil Rights movement. Stanza 1 The opening stanza of "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" provides a clear, dreary depiction of the students in the classroom. The first child is a "tall girl with [a] weighed-down head." This girl is physically and emotionally exhausted, as if all life has been dredged from her body and sapped from her mind. Her classmates are in no better condition. "The paper- / seeming boy, with rat's eyes" is paper-thin and weak. His eyes are defensive and scared, like a scavenger, a rat. His prospect for survival, let alone success, is bleak. Another student, "the stunted, unlucky heir / Of twisted bones," is the victim of a genetic disorder. Spender writes that the boy has inherited his "father's gnarled disease"; he has been left disfigured, trapped in a physically challenged body. Spender then describes the boy "at back of the dim class," stating, "His eyes live in a dream." This last student represents both a glimmer of wary hope and a shiver of mental damnation. It is unclear whether he is dreaming of a life he may achieve or has lost his mind to the "squirrel's game." This vague distinction between these two conflicting interpretations exposes all the students' futures: there is little or no expectation that they will succeed, and the best they can hope for is to keep their sanity and not fall victim to a faux reality. Beneath it all, the boy's dreaming eyes may harbor an honest desire for true success. This last boy, "unnoted, sweet and young," may understand his position in society and see the sadness of his fellow students. With this understanding, he may represent hope for social change, instead of merely being an individual who has lost his mind. Stanza 2 In the second stanza, Spender describes the classroom and its contents. The classroom is full of "donations." The children are from the lowest class; they are the children of proletarians. The classroom is constructed through donations of others' capital. All that the students possess comes from their oppressors, the bourgeoisie. The upper class, which holds these children in their place, also offers them their only tools to escape. The maps, books, and "Shakespeare's head" that give

the students hope of something outside their dreary existences are gifts from the very hands that clamp them down in their economic and social position. Spender writes, . . . for these Children, these windows, not this map, their world,Where all their future's painted with a fog, A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words. The "donations" may give a glimpse of some world to the students, but not of their world. The students do not perceive their world as like the one depicted in the classroom's "donations." It is not the "belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley" but instead a foggy, "narrow street sealed in with a lead sky." Their future is bleak, unknown, and dreary. The children in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" are trapped by their social and economic status as children of proletarians. Stanza 3 In the third stanza, Spender responds cynically to the reality of the students' futures. He calls Shakespeare "wicked" and the map a "bad example." He writes that the stories from the books of "ships and sun and love" are "tempting them [the students] to steal." The world presented by the bourgeoisie to the students in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" is intended to lure them and drag them into a life of crime. Spender's cynicism is a commentary on the upper class and their circumventing tactics in the effort to hold a firm grip on lower-class citizens. By exposing the students to the beauties of the world, the bourgeoisie appear to be assisting the proletarians' children, instilling in them hope for something better. However, Spender sees the bourgeoisie's "donations" as something far more evil. His cynical view of the "donations" is that they were given not to infuse the students with hope but rather to force them to commit crime and thus be branded as thieves. As such, the bourgeoisie are readily empowered to oppress the lower class for no other reason than to protect their own families, assets, and futures from the lawbreaking hands of the proletariat. Although Spender voices cynicism, he does not lose sight of the true victims of the injustice of the class struggle: the children. In this stanza, he continues to describe the children "on their slag heap." He returns to their thin, malnourished bodies, stating that they "wear skins peeped through by bones." They also wear "spectacles of steel / With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones." Spender is making a resounding humanist statement about the treatment of children in this poem. It appears that he is more sickened by humanity's disregard for the children than by the social and economic framework that has doomed these children to the slums. Stanza 4

In the final stanza, Spender comes full circle. He replaces cynicism with hope, a plea for a new manifesto for the children. He is petitioning "governor, inspector, visitor" to transform the sour temptation of the bourgeoisie's donations into a reality. He begs for a change that will "break O break open" the "windows / That shut upon their lives like catacombs" and free the children from the constraints of their position in society. Spender asks that the children be shown directly, not through "donations" "green fields" and "gold sands." Spender further hopes that the children will be able to "let their tongues / Run naked into books the white and green leaves open." The "white and green leaves" could be seen to represent money, bourgeoisie donations that supply the books the children use. However, with this statement, Spender is asking for a pragmatic alteration in the practical application of "donations." Given the current bourgeoisie scheme to oppress the proletariat through donations, the students either are locked in their social position or are led into a world of crime through temptation. Spender is claiming that if students are truly allowed free exploration naked tongues running freely through donated books then their education and their "language" will become the "sun" burning away the "fog" that has sealed their fates and doomed them to "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum."

What is the summary of the poem my mother at sixty six by kamala das?

[Edi t]

Summary of My Mother at Sixty-Six On a gray day, the speaker leaves her mother as well as her home to win her bread, while her mother with a long face stands and stares. The speaker easily filters her glimpses through the plethora of unfamiliar faces. When a bouquet of cheerful children is caught fluttering in the open with sheer alacrity, revives in her the Smarting childhood agony of a mysterious premonition, that is, losing her mother. Reviving from the psychological flickers at once, she sees her mother is shielded inside a pal of benumbed silence. Still the airport hums, as the passengers are requested to filter through the custom's care. Still a helpless mother, with wrenching heart and swelling emotion, bids a helpless goodbye to her helpless daughter. Strangeness added to beauty The readers are proud of having read such a poem built on the agony of a wrenching heart that resides in a child for her mother. The poet looks into the gray

olden age strumming the strings of childhood life. Bringing of the sportive children restores vivacity into the relationship. So we may without having a tinge of hesitation say, a mother's love is helplessly trampled under the technological terror of airplane wheels. Focus Mother stands in her life like a tree, on whose branch swings the childhood of the daughter. 1. Relationship Relationship is the nucleus of the poem. It seems love creates an unfading relationship and it wields its brush over at least two souls and assigns a meadow of agony with a river of fecundity. 2. Nostalgia The speaker is carried away by her childhood premonition of losing her mother.

Today I happened to read a poem by Madhavikutty....Come to think of it,the work was brilliant.It had an indegenous taste n feel to it...The poem named My Mother at Sixty Six deals with the subtleties of human relationships... On my drive from my parents home in Cochin i saw my mother beside me dozing open mouthed.Her face looked ashen like that of a corpse.Then i realised with pain the fact that my mother has grown OLD....I stumbled on the dreadful reality that this might be the last time that I see her.My mother was near death.I couldn't bear the thought n tried desparately to evade it. Finally i found refuge in the freshness of the lush green trees that passed by the roadside.I noticed children spilling out of there homes for their routine play.The contrast between the mood in my car n is beyond words.After the airoprt's security check, I saw my mom standing about a yard away,pale n colourless like a late winter's moon.Over the years she has lost her vibrance n cheer and have now become dim and unclear. I felt my heartache but I didnt show it coz i didn't want my mother to be sad....So I told her "goodbye Amma..See you soon" though i didnt believe that i could see her again...As I went to board the flight, I took once last look at her, I could see divine love which hasn't changed a bit............ Guys n gurls...this is the best time of our lives...Youth.....the vibrance n freshness that we have now will soon leave us coz everyone has to grow old....So as long as we have this jubillance use it to the fullest....N always remember to gud take care of ur parents n elderly ones, coz v also will be like them one day....
In this poem, Kamala Das explores the theme of ageing and death and isolation through a narration involving her mother. While driving from her parents home to Cochin, she notices her mother sitting beside her dozing, her face pale like a dead body and her thoughts far away. This reminds her painfully that her mother is old and could pass away leaving her alone. Putting that thought aside she looked out at the young trees speeding by and children running out of their homes happily to play. These remind her probably of youth and life, her own younger days and her mother when she was young. .

But after the security check at the airport, looking back at her mother standing a few yards away, she finds her looking pale like the winter moon. She feels that familiar pain and childhood fear of the thought of losing her mother and of being lonely just as she had been when she was young because she was different from other children. She could only keep smiling and tell her see you soon knowing full well that she might not see her.