Adrieene Rich Flashcards
Name the 4 Poems
Aunt Jennifers Tigers
Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room
Trying to talk with a man
Storm Warnings
Aunt Jennifers Tigers: Themes
Concerns female oppression in marriage
Uncle is a dominant force and marriage is unequal
Aunt Jennifer; Terror and powerlessness
Uncle; Power and oppressor
2nd meaning: a protest against hunters hunting endangered animals
Permanence of art: Aunt Jennifers artwork lives on after her death
Aunt Jennifers Tigers: Style
Imagery:
Tigers images of male dominance
Chivalric power of medieval knights
Wedding band - oppression
Alliteration:
“Fingers fluttering” intensifies Aunt Jennifers nervousness
Metaphor:
Wedding band should be a metaphor for unity and love
This isn’t the case for Aunt Jennifer
Aunt Jennifers Tigers: Quotes
“Aunt Jennifers Tigers prance across a screen”
“Fingers fluttering”
“The ivory needle”
“Her terrified hands will lie still ringed by ordeals she was mastered by”
“The massive weight of Uncles wedding band sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifers hand”
“Will go on prancing proud and unafraid”
Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room: Themes
Uncle is a symbol of wealth, social class and privilege
Overtly political poem, Uncle fears the mob
Mob is dangerous
History shows the mob may revolt
Uncle wants to hold onto luxury way of life and pass it to his children
Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room: Style
Sibilance:
“Gazing with a sullen stare”
Evokes a sense of threat
Images:
“Window, balcony and gate”
Emphasises speakers wealth and privilege
Repetition:
Repetition of “sullen” emphasises the crowds resentment
Image of Glass:
Chandelier, the ruby bowl stresses the delicate veneer stopping the mob from revolting
Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room: Quotes
“I have seen the mob of late standing sullen in the square”
“At window, balcony and gate”
“Some have talked in bitter tones, some have held and fingered stones”
“These are follies that subside”
“For crystal vase and chandelier”
“Murmurings of missile-throwers”
Trying to talk with a Man: Themes
The poet explores her and her husbands inability to communicate and their failing marriage
Protest against testing atomic bombs becomes a symbol of testing their marriage
A failed marriage is as destructive as a nuclear bomb
Reminiscing on joys of love that have passed
Trying to talk with a man: Style
Visual Image:
Condemned scenery of the desert, deformed cliffs and river are showed
Sibilance:
“Surrounded by silence” captures the silence of their marriage and the desert
Metaphor:
The testing of the bomb is a metaphor for the testing of their marriage
Trying to talk with a man: Quotes
“Out in this desert we are testing bombs”
“An underground river forcing its way between deformed cliffs”
“Acute angle of understanding”
“Surrounded by a silence that sounds like the silence of the place”
“It came from us” - They brought the silence
“Out here i feel more helpless with you than without you”
“As if we were testing anything else”
Storm Warnings: Themes
The approaching storm mirrors a sense of approaching internal struggle
Both storms are inevitable, the speaker cant prevent either
The speaker can prepare herself to battle the storms, close shutters, draw curtains, light candle
Ends on a note of hope as the speaker has learned to overcome the damages of the storm
Storm Warnings: Style
Images:
The storm reflects poets inner turmoil
The process of the poets struggle mirrors stages of the storm
Pathetic Fallacy:
The storm in nature sympathises with the storm in the poets mind
Symbol:
The candle is a universal symbol of hope
Alliteration: “What winds are walking overhead”
Storm Warnings: Quotes
“Knowing better than the instrument”
“What winds are walking overhead”
“Weather abroad and weather in the heart alike”
“Set a match to candles”
“These are things that we have learned to do Who live in troubled regions”
