Aunt Jennifer's Tiger

Introducetion: The poem 'Aunt Jennifer's Tiger' is addressed to the experience of marriage in the midst of constriction.

Before you read:
What does the title of the poem suggest to you? Are you reminded of other poems on tigers ?

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 peace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer's fingers g
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.

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