The Full Text of “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”
The Full Text of “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Introduction
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"Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" is a 1951 poem by American poet Adrienne Rich. It appeared in her first published book of poems, A Change of World. Told from the perspective of an anonymous speaker, the poem describes a woman, Aunt Jennifer, who crafts vibrant tapestry panels (depicting tigers) to escape—mentally, at least—her unhappy marriage. Written at a time when divorce was unacceptable, the poem criticizes the traditional institution of marriage, suggesting that it oppresses women.
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Summary
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Aunt Jennifer creates a needlepoint that shows tigers leaping across the canvas. Bright and vibrant, like topaz gems, the tigers live within the green world of the canvas. They are not afraid of the men standing underneath the tree, who are also depicted in the image. The tigers walk with certainty, shining and courageous.
Aunt Jennifer's fingers swiftly and delicately work the yarn, yet she finds it physically difficult to pull even a small needle made of ivory through the canvas. Her husband's wedding band feels huge, and weighs down heavily on her hand.
When Aunt Jennifer dies one day, her frightened hands will finally be still. Yet they will still be marked by the difficulties that ruled over her while she was alive. Meanwhile, the tigers she created will continue to leap across her needlepoint without shame or fear.
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Themes
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Marriage, Gender, and Power
In "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," a woman referred to only as Aunt Jennifer uses embroidery as a creative outlet while living (and ultimately dying) in an unhappy marriage. The poem describes the "terrified" Aunt Jennifer's fear-filled existence in a marriage full of "ordeals" in which she is ruled over by her husband, referred to simply as "Uncle." Published in 1951, a time when women were expected to get married (and divorce was frowned upon), the poem suggests that the power dynamic of a traditional heterosexual marriage oppresses women.
Aunt Jennifer is trapped in a difficult marriage with a man who terrifies her. Her fear is first hinted at by the contrasting imagery of the tigers in the tapestries she creates, which are unafraid of "the men beneath the tree." This could refer to hunters in a forest, out to kill the tigers. But the poem suggests that the tigers are well-equipped to take on these men and, as such, have no reason to be afraid—something that is certainly not the case with Aunt Jennifer herself.
The animals are also personified, described specifically as "chivalric." This is an old term often used to describe the moral code of knights and is used in modern times to refer to the courteous treatment of women. In likening the tigers' lack of fear to a "chivalric certainty," the poem thus ties their bravery and pride to masculinity. This, in turn, suggests that such carefree "pranc[ing]" is simply not possible for Aunt Jennifer, who is a woman living in a patriarchal world (that is, a world in which men hold most of the power).
Thus even as the tigers "do not fear the men beneath the tree," Aunt Jennifer is not just fearful but "terrified" of her husband, and this fear infuses every part of her life. In the second stanza, Aunt Jennifer's fingers are "fluttering," suggesting anxiety and nervousness. The hints of anxiety escalate until, in the third stanza, Aunt Jennifer's hands are described outright as "terrified."
The source of Aunt Jennifer's fear is clearly her marriage, which is presented as an oppressive institution within which she is trapped. The nervousness of Aunt Jennifer's hands is directly linked to the "massive weight of Uncle's wedding band," a symbolic representation of how stifling and burdensome this marriage feels. Aunt Jennifer's fingers are further portrayed as weak, finding "even the ivory needle hard to pull" against the weight of this ring. This reflects the oppressive nature of Aunt Jennifer's fear, which leaves her immobilized, meek, and unable to stand up to "Uncle."
The psychological weight of Aunt Jennifer's marriage stems from the dynamic inherent to traditional marriage, in which men dominate their wives. The ring is associated with "ordeals" that Aunt Jennifer "was mastered by." The use of "mastered" suggests her husband as the master. A "master" implicitly has a subject to dominate—a "slave." It's thus hinted that the Uncle/Aunt dynamic in the poem is one of Master/Slave.
The fact that it is "Uncle's" wedding band and not Aunt Jennifer's again affirms Uncle's dominance in this relationship. It is his wedding band, not her own, that weighs her down. Uncle owns the wedding band and, in a way, he also owns Aunt Jennifer. He is her master, reflecting the reality that a woman in marriage is traditionally considered the man's property.
In the early 1950s, a woman like Aunt Jennifer would have been expected to marry (a man) and stay home to take care of the household. Not only would divorce be considered socially unacceptable, but Aunt Jennifer would also have limited options to support herself financially outside of her marriage. Aunt Jennifer is thus trapped in her marriage, and her seemingly hopeless state is put into stark relief against the tigers' freedom.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-12
- Lines 5-10
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Creative Expression and Personal Freedom
The unnamed speaker of the poem describes the life of Aunt Jennifer, a woman who cannot escape her subservient role in her marriage. She also can't escape the marriage itself: written in 1951, the poem references a time where divorce was a social no-go. Hampered by her fear, the one form of escape Aunt Jennifer does have is through her creative work—crafting tapestry panels that show colorful scenes of bold and proud tigers. The poem argues that through her art (which will live on well after Aunt, Uncle, and the unhappy marriage are long gone) Aunt Jennifer finds an escape that not even death will grant her—a hint of freedom in the immortal nature of her work.
Aunt Jennifer turns to needlework as a creative outlet, a means of coping with her difficult marriage and escaping her oppressive everyday reality. The tapestry panels she crafts with her needle and wool show tigers "prancing, proud and unafraid." This mood contrasts sharply with the seemingly meek and scared character of Aunt Jennifer herself. While the tigers are walking confidently, Aunt Jennifer can barely pull the ivory needle through her wool, due to the weight of "Uncle's wedding band."
The speaker describes how Aunt Jennifer's marriage is an obstacle to her creativity, but the poem makes it clear that, at least in life, she continues her art nonetheless. The second stanza describes Aunt Jennifer as fearful and anxious, with "fluttering" fingers. But despite the "weight of Uncle's wedding band," she insists on creating, remaining resilient and perseverant.
The third stanza then describes Aunt Jennifer in death. Finally her hands "lie" still, highlighting that her days of needlework are over. However, they remain "ringed with ordeals she was mastered by," indicating that her marriage is still with her—perhaps literally, if she's buried wearing her wedding ring.
Although Aunt Jennifer can't escape, in life or death, the weight of her difficult marriage or her subservient role in it, her creative work remains a liberating force. Jennifer herself may not be free, but her tapestries and their tigers are. What's more, the tapestries will outlive Aunt Jennifer, Uncle, and their marriage, indicating that art can create an immortal kind of freedom that goes beyond human oppression.
The tigers exist in their very own universe, as "topaz denizens of a world of green." This is a plane of existence apart from the one Jennifer and Uncle share, and a world that is technically immortal, as the artwork is inanimate. When Aunt Jennifer is dead, "the tigers in the panel that she made / Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid."
In creating vibrant, colorful art that depicts proud and unafraid tigers—tigers who aren't afraid of men—Aunt Jennifer confronts her fear. While she may be stuck "ringed with ordeals" of her marriage (even after death), the tigers will remain free in their "world of green." Perhaps Aunt Jennifer finds comfort in this creative expression, crafting a bold tapestry that will outlive her and Uncle both, and that shows nature's creatures living wild and unafraid, liberated from man-made constraints like marriage.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-12
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”
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Lines 1-2
Aunt Jennifer's tigers ...
... world of green.The poem opens with vibrant imagery describing the tigers pictured in Aunt Jennifer's craftwork. The reference to a "screen" in line 1 signals to the reader that these tigers are part of a tapestry or canvas—a hint that is confirmed in the second stanza, which describes the actual act of Aunt Jennifer's working with a needle and wool.
The words used to describe the tigers establishes them as bold and confident. They are "bright" and colored "topaz," a translucent yellow hue associated with the gem of the same name (topaz can also be a vivid blue in color, which would add a fantastical element to the tigers' appearance). Associating the tigers with a glittering precious stone gives them value. The use of the verb "prance" then suggests a light-hearted, proud, springing action; the wild cats don't simply walk, they stride proudly and with confidence.
The vivid imagery continues as the topaz tigers are set against a color-contrasting backdrop, "a world of green." This color suggests a natural setting, such as a forest, which the tigers are denizens—inhabitants—of. The use of consonance with the /z/ sounds in the phrase "topaz denizens" emphasizes this sense of belonging, asserting the animals as permanent residents in the world of green.
As the rest of the poem will make clear, this "world of green" is vastly different from the world that Aunt Jennifer inhabits: While the tigers roam freely in their green world—ironic, given that they are technically "trapped" in a tapestry screen—Aunt Jennifer is trapped in the world of her oppressive marriage.
The use of the possessive case with "Aunt Jennifer's tigers" reminds the reader that the tigers would not exist without Aunt Jennifer. She has made the "world of green" that these proud creatures prance through, putting her in the role of a God-like creator. Although the poem goes on to describe Aunt Jennifer as an anxious, "terrified" woman, these first three words serve to remind the reader of this meek woman's power—namely, the power of creativity and creation. She has crafted the world of green that the tigers live in.
The first two lines of the poem also set up a rhyme scheme that will continue throughout, with the perfect end rhyme of "screen"/"green." The rest of the poem will uphold the use of rhyming couplets, presenting a rigid regularity that reflects the rigid confines of Aunt Jennifer's marriage. (This formalism will ultimately be disrupted in other ways, however, reflecting the subversive nature of Aunt Jennifer's handiwork.)
The speaker of the poem is not introduced in the first lines or at any other point in the poem. "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" is told from an anonymous outsider's point of view, describing Aunt Jennifer and her tapestries. Although the speaker can be presumed to be a relative, given that they use the terms "Aunt" and "Uncle," this is in no way confirmed at any point in the poem. No details about the speaker—not their gender, age, nor precise relationship to Aunt Jennifer—are ever revealed.
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Lines 3-4
They do not ...
... sleek chivalric certainty. -
Lines 5-6
Aunt Jennifer's fingers ...
... hard to pull. -
Lines 7-8
The massive weight ...
... Aunt Jennifer's hand. -
Lines 9-10
When Aunt is ...
... was mastered by. -
Lines 11-12
The tigers in ...
... proud and unafraid.
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Symbols
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The Tigers
The tigers in the poem symbolize the freedom and confidence that seem unattainable to Aunt Jennifer in her real life. While the tigers are vibrant and bold, described with powerful, active verbs like "prance" and "pace," Aunt Jennifer is too weak to even handle her needle. While the tigers live freely in a beautiful "world of green," Aunt Jennifer is stuck being a homemaker. While the tigers "do not fear the men," Aunt Jennifer is scared of her own husband.
Aunt Jennifer's innermost desires for freedom—in a time when a woman requesting a divorce was likely extremely rare and certainly frowned upon—are thus expressed through the tigers. They are symbols of the liberated, joyous state of being that evades Aunt Jennifer.
The tigers represent not only a freedom from man-made constraints (like marriage) in the tangible world but also represent a unique freedom that no man or woman can hope to attain—that is, a freedom from death itself. The final lines emphasize that the tigers "will go on" even "When Aunt is dead." Since the tigers are inanimate, captured within a tapestry, they can theoretically exist forever. As a symbol of immortality, they highlight the fact that even men—who might try to rule the world through patriarchal institutions like marriage—are not all powerful. They are all fallible and none of them will exist forever.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-4: “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.”
- Lines 11-12: “The tigers in the panel that she made / Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.”
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The Tree
The tree referenced in line 3 can be seen to symbolize one of two things. One reading of the tree can see it simply as a symbol for the natural world. This single tree is a small representation of the larger forest, the "world of green," that the tigers presumably inhabit. The "men" referred to might in this case be hunters. Positioning the men "beneath the tree" suggests a power hierarchy, namely that the natural world will always persevere over the machinations of men. Indeed, certain species of animals and trees live much longer than humans—and even a tiny creature like a cockroach can outlive conditions that a human cannot.
This reading ties in with the view of the tigers as a symbol of freedom from the mortal world: since the tigers are technically inanimate, captured as part of an artwork that literally cannot die, they will outlive Aunt Jennifer, Uncle, and any human institution like marriage.
Another reading of "the tree" is that it is a reference to the tree, as in, it is an allusion to the biblical Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In Genesis, when Eve ate fruit from the tree at the urging of the serpent, the Fall of man resulted; human beings were cast out of paradise, and shame and sin were introduced into the world. Eve was subsequently marked as the "weaker" sex, since she gave into the serpent's temptations (while Adam did not).
At the same time, the biblical tree is associated with free will and deviation from a higher power. Thinking of the tree as a symbol for the Tree of Knowledge thus speaks to the theme of female subordination within traditional male/female relationships like marriage. Whereas in her real life Aunt Jennifer is treated as subservient to her husband, in the tapestry it is "men" who are "beneath"—subservient to—"the tree," and to the tigers that Jennifer has created.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 3: “They do not fear the men beneath the tree”
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The Wedding Band
The wedding band is a symbol of the institution of marriage and speaks to the poem's broader thematic ideas surrounding marriage, gender, and power. The depiction of the ring as burdensome speaks to the argument that the power dynamic of a traditional heterosexual marriage serves to oppress women.
The way that the band is described in lines 7 and 8 highlights this, as the band is described as sitting "heavily" on Aunt Jennifer's hand, as if it's weighing her down. It's also attributed with a "massive weight," a bit of hyperbole that confirms the reader's suspicion that it's not the ring itself that burdens Aunt Jennifer but what the ring represents—her marriage. The fact that it is Uncle's wedding band affirms this interpretation, making it clear that the man holds the power in the relationship, leaving Aunt Jennifer in the subservient role.
The reference to the symbol of the wedding band in lines 9 and 10 further supports this view. The phrase "ringed with ordeals she was mastered by" is a nod to the previously mentioned ring. The use of the word "mastered" in this instance again paints a picture of Aunt Jennifer as being in the subservient role, the "slave" to the "master" Uncle.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 7-8: “The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band / Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.”
- Lines 9-10: “When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie / Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.”
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
The tigers are personified throughout the poem when they are described as being proud, confident, and unafraid of men. These qualities differentiate them from the fearful and timid Aunt Jennifer.
The most striking instance of personification, however, is when they are referred to as "chivalric." This term is traditionally associated with medieval knights, who were expected to adhere to a strict moral code known as chivalry. Such men might be described as chivalric or chivalrous. In modern usage, chivalry is typically used to describe courteous treatment toward women.
It's unusual to apply this term to an animal and in doing so, the poem associates the tigers with male figures. Their bravery and confidence is thus aligned with masculinity. That is, being certain and proud is directly linked to a specific idea of manhood.
This further highlights the contrast between the animals and Aunt Jennifer herself, the fearful woman depicted engaging in a traditionally female pastime of needlework. Stuck in a patriarchal institution (marriage) that dehumanizes her (by positioning her as an object to be owned) and oppresses her, Aunt Jennifer is unable to share the same pride and bravery of the tigers. She can't prance in the same carefree way that they do nor can she share their lack of fear in the face of men.
Where personification appears in the poem:- Line 3: “They do not fear the men beneath the tree;”
- Line 4: “They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.”
- Lines 11-12: “The tigers in the panel that she made / Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.”
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Imagery
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Hyperbole
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Consonance
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Assonance
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Alliteration
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Enjambment
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Caesura
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Allusion
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Metaphor
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"Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Prance/Prancing
- Screen
- Topaz
- Denizens
- The tree
- Chivalric
- Ivory
- Wedding band
- Ringed
- Ordeals
- Panel
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “prance”; Line 12: “prancing”)
A verb indicating a springing, bounding movement. When an animal prances, it leaps off of its hind legs. Prancing can also be equated with strutting or walking in a confident, joyous, spirited manner.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”
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Form
"Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" does not adhere to any set poetic form (such as a sonnet). However, it does have a distinct order and regularity to it. The poem consists of three quatrains (four-line stanzas). The lines are similar in length with no abrupt endings or transitions.
Additionally, each quatrain consists of two rhyming couplets. What's more, the second rhyming couplet of the first and final quatrain is written using iambic pentameter (more on this in "Meter"). The orderly form is thus complemented by regularity in terms of rhyme and rhythm. This makes for a seemingly restrained and ordered poem, reflecting the constraints of Aunt Jennifer's marriage within a rigid patriarchal system. While the form, rhyme, and rhythm may seem to conform to some standard rules of poetry, however, the poem's content strikes a subversive note.
The stanzas or organized in a way that highlights the contrast between the bold, brave tigers and fear-filled Aunt Jennifer. The first stanza is devoted solely to a description of the tigers. They are "bright" and "chivalric," and full of action as they "prance" and "pace." They "do not fear the men beneath the tree." The second stanza focuses on Aunt Jennifer herself, painting a bleak and colorless picture of a nervous woman with "fluttering" fingers that are so weak, they find "even the ivory needle hard to pull." This contrast is then brought to a head in the third and final stanza, which devotes the first two lines to "terrified" Aunt Jennifer and the last two lines to the "prancing" tigers.
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Meter
"Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" does not adhere 100% to a specific meter but does make notable use of iambic pentameter, a rhythm consisting of five poetic feet in a da-DUM rhythm. The final two lines of the first stanza offer one instance of almost perfect, rhyming iambic pentameter (making these lines something called a heroic couplet):
They do | not fear | the men | beneath | the tree;
They pace | in sleek | chival- | ric cer- | tainty.There are variations here—the third foot of the second line is a trochee (stressed-unstressed), and the final syllable might be marked as unstressed, depending on the reader (as in, "certainty"). Overall, though, the rhythm is very regular compared to the free verse that begins the poem. but it This precise pattern is again seen in the final two lines of the final stanza:
The ti- | gers in | the pan- | el that | she made
Will go | on pran- | cing, proud | and un- | afraid.Not all of the poem's lines offer such a clipped, clear, rhythm, however. This suggests a subversive note that reflects the subversive message of the poem. Just as the poem criticizes the traditional patriarchal structure of marriage, the poem casts doubt on traditional poetic structures with its inconsistent use if iambic pentameter. Alternatively, the fact that the four lines talking about the tigers' fearless motion fall into such precise rhythm might reflect the confidence of their movement and Aunt Jennifer's control over her creation.
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Rhyme Scheme
Each of the four-line stanzas is comprised of two rhyming couplets. The overall rhyme scheme is therefore: AABBCCDDEEFF.
This rhyme scheme might seem simplistic, as it's the type of easily identifiable structure that readers would see in a nursery rhyme. Take "Humpty Dumpty," for example: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, / Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."
However, Rich subverts the expectation that such a "neat" and "easy" rhyme scheme will be accompanied by equally simplistic content. Far from superficial, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" highlights the problematic elements of traditional marriage and the unequal power dynamics it promotes. The rhyme scheme might lull readers into a false sense of familiarity and security that makes the revelation of Aunt Jennifer's oppression all the more powerful.
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Speaker
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The speaker in "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" is anonymous. It can be assumed that the speaker is a niece or nephew of Aunt Jennifer's. However, this is not actually suggested in any way other than the fact that Jennifer is referred to as "Aunt Jennifer." The speaker's actual relationship to Aunt Jennifer—as well as any defining details like gender or age—is ultimately unknown.
The speaker casts a critical eye at Aunt Jennifer's marriage and the institution of marriage in general. The speaker paints a picture of Aunt Jennifer as being afraid and oppressed in her marriage. The speaker highlights Aunt Jennifer's creative outlet as her only freedom from a marriage she can't seem to escape. While Aunt Jennifer's craftwork may offer her some solace and a sense of escapism, in the speaker's view Aunt Jennifer remains permanently weighed down by her marriage, even after death.
Although there is no suggestion that the speaker represents Adrienne Rich herself, parallels can be seen between Rich's views on marriage and those of the speaker. In Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985, Rich wrote, "No woman is really an insider in the institutions fathered by masculine consciousness." Commenting on marriage more explicitly in a private letter penned in 1970, Rich wrote, "Think of all that any bright, attractive, vital women invests in bourgeois marriage, in her husband and family. Her independence and autonomy are postponed or resigned altogether; her own spirit is almost continually being asked to take second place to the needs, the will, even the passing moods, of her man."
Rich may also identify on some level with Aunt Jennifer herself. Like Aunt Jennifer, Rich was a creative woman—she just created poems instead of tapestries. Rich was also married for nearly two decades before her husband died by suicide.
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“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Setting
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There is no setting specified in "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" and the poem does not offer any hints as to where it might be contextualized. The most the reader can surmise is that Aunt Jennifer is living in a society where a traditional heterosexual concept of marriage (one man and one woman) dominates. Given that the poem's author, Adrienne Rich, was living in the United States at the time of the poem's publication in 1951, the reader can infer the setting to be 1950s America. This contextualization would fit the speaker's depiction of marriage and affirm the portrayal of Aunt Jennifer as being "trapped" in her marriage, since opportunities for a woman to gain self-sufficiency outside of her marriage would have been limited at this time.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”
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Literary Context
"Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" was part of Adrienne Rich's first book of poems, A Change of World. Published in 1951, the collection was selected by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize that same year. The volume was precise and restrained, both in terms of form and content. Her later work was more radical in both respects. A critic for the New York Times Book Review described Rich in her early career as a "polite copyist of Yeats and Auden" and describes her transition in the 1970s and '80s to a "newly-defined female literature"
Rich's early works were influenced largely by English romantic poets like John Keats. Rich's work became less formal over time and her later works were almost exclusively written in free verse. In terms of content, the poem's exploration of power dynamics in male/female relationships hints at Rich's later turn towards more overtly political poetry. Along with friends such as Audre Lorde and June Jordan, Rich eventually helped lead a generation of female and LGBTQ poets whose work challenged patriarchal, racist, and homophobic power structures in America and beyond. Rich won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1974 for her collection Diving into the Wreck, whose title poem explores women's erasure from cultural narratives. Rich accepted the award alongside Lorde and Alice Walker, on behalf of all women "whose voices have gone and still go unheard in a patriarchal world."
Historical Context
At the time that "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" was written, in 1951, it would have been unusual and unlikely for a woman to seek a divorce. Women were still relegated primarily to the role of "homemaker" and had fewer opportunities available to them in terms of education and profession than they do today. The concept of a woman being trapped in a marriage, reliant on a husband who would provide for her financially, was thus not far-fetched at this time.
Rich—who was married for almost two decades until her husband died by suicide in 1970—came to be a vocal critic of the institution of marriage. She herself ended up finding a longtime partner in Michelle Cliff, a Jamaican-American writer. In the 1980 essay "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence," Rich wrote:
Women have married because it was necessary, in order to survive economically, in order to have children who would not suffer economic deprivation or social ostracism, in order to remain respectable, in order to do what was expected of women because coming out of 'abnormal' childhoods they wanted to feel 'normal,' and because heterosexual romance has been represented as the great female adventure, duty, and fulfillment.
As both a writer and activist, Adrienne Rich eventually became a leading voice in what is now known as second-wave feminism (or "women's liberation," the term she preferred). Second-wave feminism extended from the 1960s through the 1980s and sought to redress a wide range of social injustices. Where first-wave feminism had largely focused on women's suffrage, the second wave centered on issues such as reproductive freedom, workplace opportunity and equality, and legal protections against sexual harassment and domestic violence. Its advocates opposed the belief (widespread in post-World War II America) that a woman's proper place was in the home, keeping house, raising children, and supporting men's ambitions.
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More “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Resources
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External Resources
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A Biography of Adrienne Rich — Learn more about the poem's author.
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The National Book Award Ceremony — Read the speech given by Adrienne Rich upon her acceptance of the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry. She wrote it with Alice Walker and Audre Lorde, the other two feminist poets nominated that year. The three women wrote had agreed to accept the prize together if any one of them won.
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A History of Marriage — Learn about the history of marriage as traditionally configured in societies in which women are dependent on men in the family hierarchy.
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A "Feminist Awakening" — Learn about Adrienne Rich’s "feminist awakening," as seen through previously unpublished letters.
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Adrienne Rich's Obituary — Adrienne Rich died in 2012 at age 82. Read her obituary, including career highlights.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Adrienne Rich
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