“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich

Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
“The massive weight of The wedding band symbolises the burden of a patriarchal
Uncle’s wedding band / Sits Metaphor / marriage. The word “massive” suggests emotional or social
Marriage and heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s Hyperbole weight, not just physical, showing how the institution of
patriarchy hand.” marriage has oppressed her.
(example)

Feminine
oppression

“Aunt Jennifer’s tigers

prance across a screen, /
Bright topaz denizens of a
world of green.”
Art as escape

Contrast: freedom
vs constraint

Enduring voice Personification /

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Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

Imagery

through art

Symbolism of the
tigers

Gender roles

Even after Aunt Jennifer’s death, her art continues to

express defiance and strength. The tigers are her lasting
legacy—fearless and unrestrained—standing in silent
Legacy and resistance to the life she endured.
resistance
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Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
Message:

“Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou

Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
Repetition /
Assertion
Self-confidence
and self-
empowerment “Now you understand / Just
why my head’s not bowed.”

“I’m not cute or built to suit

a fashion model’s size”
Rejection of
traditional beauty
standards

Feminine strength
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

Confidence in
identity

The "fire in my eyes" and "flash of my teeth" create a

Celebration of striking image of uniqueness and strength, celebrating the
individuality speaker's individuality and personal energy.

Mystery and allure

Impact of presence

Joy and grace

“The joy in my feet.”
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

Message:

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
The simile compares her resilience to dust—something that
always lifts. The refrain reinforces unstoppable strength
“But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”
despite oppression.

Repetition /
Resilience and
Emphatic
Defiance
Structure

“You may trod me in the Metaphor /

very dirt” Diction

Black Identity and

Ancestral Pride

“Out of the huts of history’s Alliteration /

shame / I rise” Historical
Allusion
Metaphor /
Imagery
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

Simile / Sensual
Imagery

Sexual and “Does my sexiness upset

Feminine you?”
Confidence
The image of wealth (gold mines) in her own space shows
how joy and self-worth come from within—linked to her
feminine confidence.

Apostrophe

Overcoming “You may shoot me with

Racism and your words… / But still, like
Oppression air, I’ll rise.”

Hope and Triumph “Into a daybreak that’s “Daybreak” symbolizes a new beginning—bright and free
wondrously clear / I rise” from pain—suggesting a triumphant future.
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

“Just like hopes springing

high”

Message:

Women Bathing by Imtiaz Dharker

Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
Female Solidarity Bathing together in moonlight evokes community and
& Liberation shared vulnerability, suggesting a collective act of peaceful
“The other women are Symbolism /
resistance and freedom.
bathing / in the moonlight.” Visual Imagery

Imperative
Language /
Repetition

“Let the veils fall, one by

one.”
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Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

Sensory
Imagery /
Celebratory
Tone
The pomegranate, rich and abundant, symbolizes fertility,
sensuality, and fullness—reframing the female body as
Sensuality &
beautiful and sacred.
Body Positivity

“Bursting with promises.”

Simile

The moonlight becomes a cleansing, nurturing force,

symbolizing a return to a more primal, natural existence
Reclaiming Space beyond restriction.
& Nature

“Out of shaded rooms, let’s

escape”

Memory & “The waters of the Alhambra Historical

Ancestral / have been murmuring to Allusion /
Connection us.” Personification
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

“Voices calling across

centuries.”

This line universalizes the women’s experience, suggesting

a shared global connection and cultural memory tied to the
land and history.

“Let’s escape and slip away”

As veils fall gradually, it suggests a journey of rediscovery,

dentity & Self- “Let the veils fall, one by of revealing one’s true self beyond external expectations or
Discovery one.” imposed modesty.

Metaphor /
Reflection
Imagery

Message:

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

“A host, of golden daffodils”

Personification /
Kinetic Imagery
1. Nature’s Beauty
and Power
“Continuous as the stars
that shine / And twinkle on
the milky way”

2. Solitude and
Reflection Simile / First-
“I wandered lonely as a
person
cloud”
Narration

Mood / Contrast

The “inward eye” represents the mind’s capacity for

memory and introspection, emphasizing the joy found in
peaceful solitude.
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

His loneliness is replaced with happiness when in the

company of the daffodils—solitude transformed by nature’s
companionship.

“They flash upon that inward

eye / Which is the bliss of
solitude”

3. Memory and
Imagination
Repetition /
Irony

The daffodils transform negative moods into joy—nature’s

“In vacant or in pensive
image lives on in the memory, bringing contentment.
mood… my heart with
pleasure fills”
4. Emotional and
Spiritual Renewal Personification /
Metaphor

“A poet could not but be

gay”
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

Contradictory idea that solitude, often associated with

sadness, can be joyful when enriched by natural
recollection.

Personification /
Emotive
5. Connection Language
Between Nature and
Emotion
“They flash upon that inward
eye”

6. The Sublime / Awe

in Nature

The comparison to stars evokes the infinite and grand

beauty of nature, giving a sense of the sublime.
“What wealth the show to
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

me had brought”

The daffodils outshine even the waves, reinforcing their

power to astonish and evoke wonder.

Repetition /
Reflection
7. Transience and
Permanence

Simplicity of
Language /
Colour Imagery
Natural Imagery Describes an unassuming, peaceful setting that brings
8. Joy Found in / Calm Tone profound contentment.
Simplicity

Even in mentally “empty” moments, a simple memory of

“In vacant or in pensive
Contrast / Mood nature is enough to bring joy—emphasizing simplicity’s
mood”
power.
Message:
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Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

To – by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
Metaphor /
1. Memory and “Music, when soft voices die,
Sensory
Lasting Presence / Vibrates in the memory—”
Imagery

“Thy thoughts, when thou Foreshadowing

art gone” / Direct Address
Love is imagined as a being that continues to exist, even in
2. Love and “Love itself shall slumber Personification /
sleep—symbolizing enduring emotional connection beyond
Emotional Legacy on.” Metaphor
death or departure.

The leftover rose leaves are lovingly arranged, indicating

devotion and care continuing after physical loss.
3. Nature as a
Metaphor for Life
and Death
Extended Nature’s decay becomes a metaphor for loss, but also for
Metaphor / lingering beauty—what dies still gives something to the
Symbolism living.
“Music... Vibrates in the
memory”
Message:
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used

“The Tyger” by William Blake

Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
“What immortal hand or eye, Rhetorical
/ Could frame thy fearful Question /
symmetry?” Symbolism
“What the hammer? what
the chain, / In what furnace
1. Divine Creation was thy brain?”
and Power
Repetition /
Personification

“Dare frame thy fearful Alliteration /

symmetry?” Paradox

2. Fear and Awe

Violent Imagery
/ Allusion to
Forging

Biblical Allusion
/ Cosmic
Imagery
3. Nature as “In the forests of the night”
Powerful and
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
Mysterious

“Burnt the fire of thine

eyes?”

“On what wings dare he

aspire?”

Juxtaposition /
Spatial Imagery
4. Duality of Juxtaposition /
Creation (Good vs Religious
Evil) Allusion
Irony /
Questions whether the creator is pleased with a fearsome
Rhetorical
creation—suggesting ambiguity in divine purpose.
Question

“Fearful symmetry”

The menacing imagery of grasping terrors shows the

contradictory complexity in divine or natural creation.
5. Uncertainty and
“What immortal hand or
the Limits of
eye / Could frame thy fearful
Human
symmetry?”
Understanding
Accumulative The piling of questions suggests human confusion and awe
Questioning / in the face of cosmic or divine craftsmanship.
Repetition
“Could twist the sinews of
 Technique
Theme / Concept Supporting Quote Explanation
Used
thy heart?”
Emphatic
“Dare frame thy fearful Ends the poem as it began—with unanswered wonder—
Question /
symmetry?” highlighting the ongoing mystery of the Tyger’s existence.
Enigmatic Tone
Message: