CBSE Class 12 English Aunt Jennifers Tigers Worksheet

Flamigo Poem - Aunt Jennifers Tigers

The poet is a feminist and at the centre of the poem. She addresses the difficulties of a married woman. The woman, Aunt Jennifer, is a nervous and fearful wife. She spends good amount of time in embroidering panel of tigers prancing across the screen. The tigers are fearless creatures pacing elegantly and majestically. They symbolize the spirit of freedom. Aunt is a victim of male chauvinism (male domination). She is so nervous that her fingers ‘flutter’ through the wool she is using in her tapestry or panel.

The poet portrays the marriage of Jennifer as an unhappy one for her. The “weight of Uncle’s wedding band “expresses how victimized, oppressed and dominated she is. It implies that aunt Jennifer has to work hard to meet his expectation.

She spends her life in fear but she embroiders on the panel the fearless tigers to express her secret longing for a life of freedom and confidence. Perhaps Aunt Jennifer uses art as an escape from her troubles. In her artwork she imagines the kind of life she would have liked. The creatures she places there are free and proud, just opposite to her. It seems that she  creates a happier looking world than the one she lives in. She makes precise and brightly coloured pictures like the sharp yellow tigers of the poem, pictured against a green background. These bright contrasting colours are probably much more vivid than her everyday world.

Her artistic work will live on after she dies, as, according to the poet, her tigers will ‘go on prancing’ The Aunt is terrified about the fact that when she would quit the world and when she would be lowered into the grave, she would still remain afraid of her husband and would carry the marks of torture in the form of wedding ring even in her grave. Even her death would not end the problem and torture which a married woman experiences.

• The poet is a feminist and she addresses the difficulties of a married woman.

• She spends good amount of time in embroidering panel of tigers prancing across the screen.

• The tigers are fearless creatures pacing elegantly and majestically. They symbolize the spirit of freedom. Aunt is a victim of male chauvinism (male domination).

• Aunt Jennifer is so oppressed and terrified that she finds it hard to pull the needle.

• The “weight of Uncle’s wedding band “expresses how victimized and oppressed she is. It implies that aunt Jennifer has to work hard to meet his expectation.

• She spends her life in fear but she embroiders on the panel the fearless tigers to express her secret longing for a life of freedom and confidence.

• Even her death does not end the problem and torture which a married woman experiences..

Comprehension
Stanza1
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.

Question. Name the poem of these lines.
(a) Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
(b) Keeping Quiet
(c) A Thing of Beauty
(d) A Road Side Stand

Answer : A

Question. Who is the poet of these lines?
(a) John Keats
(b) Adrienne Rich
(c) Robert Frost
(d) Pablo Neruda

Answer : B

Question. What are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers doing?
(a) hunting in the forest
(b) sleeping in the forest
(c) prancing across the screen
(d) both (a) & (b)

Answer : C

Question. How do they look like?
(a) bright denizens of a world of green
(b) dull denizens of a world of green
(c) fearful
(d) cowardice

Answer : A

Question. Where are the tigers?
(a) on the pond
b) near the lake
(c) near the village
(d) embroidered on a screen

Answer : D

Question. Are they fearless?
(a) Yes
(b) No
(c) May be
(d) Not mention

Answer : A

Question. How do they pace?
(a) cowardly
(b) blindly
(c) in sleek chivalric certainty
(d) slowly

Answer : C

Question. What are the tigers not afraid of?
(a) the tigers are not afraid of Lions
(b) the tigers are not afraid of Cows
(c) the tigers are not afraid of men
(d) the tigers are not afraid of women

Answer : C

Question. The word ‘chivalric’ in the context means.
(a) timid
(b) arrogant
(c) honourable and brave
(d) malicious

Answer : C

Question. The rhyme scheme of this stanza is.
(a) aabb
(b) abab
(c) abc
(d) a

Answer : A

Stanza 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.

Question. ’Massive’ means
(a) high
(b) huge
(c) minimum
(d) small

Answer : B

Question. Which literary device is used in the line – ‘Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool’?
(a) metaphor
(b)simile
(c) alliteration
(d) all of these

Answer : C

Question.What does the line ‘The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’ imply?
(a) the ring is very heavy
(b) the responsibilities of marriage are too many
(c) both A & B
(d) none of these

Answer : B

Question. Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?
(a) because of weak fingers
(b)because it is heavy
(c) because of her fears
(d) because it is made of ivory

Answer : C

Question. What does wedding ring represent?
(a) beauty
(b) expenses
(c) unnecessary pressures of her dominant husband and responsibilities of married life
(d) none

Answer : C

Question. How does Aunt Jennifer seem to be?
(a) old and weak
(b) old and strong
(c) young and weak
(d) young and strong

Answer : A

Question. What short of person does uncle appear to be?
(a) loving
(b) careful
(c) timid
(d) dominating

Answer : D