“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” and “Woodchucks” Essay Example For Students

â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers† and â€Å"Woodchucks† Essay The poems â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers† by Adrienne Rich and â€Å"Woodchucks† by Maxine Kumin, both have metaphors about animals. In the poem â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers†, the Tigers are active, beautiful, and brave. Aunt Jennifer’s life has been hard and unhappy. â€Å"The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ( Rich 7). In the poem â€Å"Woodchucks†, the animal is symbolizing the level of tolerance that a person can have when dealing with a pestering situation. I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing. † (Kumin 15). When someone gets to this level of violence, it means they had enough. I can truly identify with this poem. I never want others to see the angry side of me. The gender of the speaker in each of the poems is undefined although I got the impression that in â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers†, the speaker is a young person or child. The speaker refers to her aunt as â€Å"Aunt Jennifer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rich 5) instead of My Aunt Jennifer. The lines of the poem are rhyming with a kind of melody, creating the impression of a younger speaker. In â€Å"Woodchucks†, I can hear the author speaking. Kumin uses the word I a few times in the poem. â€Å"I said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kumin 13) and â€Å"I, lapsed†¦. †(Kumin 15). The characters in the poems are different. In â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,† Aunt Jennifer is in an unhappy marriage where she feels trapped. Aunt Jennifer enjoys embroidering and reflecting in her art. â€Å" The tigers in the panel that she made will go on prancing, proud and unafraid†(Rich 12). In Woodchucks the character’s anger escalates until she is enraged and results to violence. â€Å"The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling to the feel of the . 22,†¦.. †(Kumin 13). Although these two poems are different in tone and symbolism they both deal with real common conflicts. A person can become violent after dealing with a difficult situation for any length of time. The other common conflict deals with women who are in bad marriages and just sit quietly waiting for a way out sometimes until death.