Poem 3 - A Tiger in The Zoo

CLASS X (2021-22)
FIRST FLIGHT - POEM 3 – A TIGER IN THE ZOO
• by Leslie Norris
About the Poet

George Leslie Norris (1921-2006) was a prize winning Welsh poet and short story writer. He is
considered as most important Welsh writers of the post war period and his literary works have won
many prizes. Norris published his first poem in 1938 and by 1943; he published his first book of
poetry. His career as a poet began to take off when his first collection Finding Gold was published in
1967. By 1980 Norris published three volumes in the Phoenix Living Poets. His publication Ransoms
had won the Poetry Society's Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize in 1970.
About the poem - The poem written by Leslie Norris explains the agony and helplessness of a caged
tiger that lives in a zoo. The poet explains what his life could be if he had been a free animal. The poet
has tried to explain about the condition of animals that are caged by human beings for their own fun.
Key Words –
1. Strips : long narrow bands 2. Lurking : lying hidden in order to attack

3. Sliding : moving very slowly 4. Plump : fat
5. Fangs : long sharp teeth 6. pads – the soft part under the foot of the tiger
7. rage – anger 8. snarling – to make an angry and warning sound
9. baring – showing 10. concrete cell – a very small and unpleasant cage
11. stalking – moving slowly and quietly in a threatening way
Poetic Devices –
1. Imagery 2. Alliteration 3. Metaphor 4. Enjambment
5. Repetition 6. Personification 7. Oxymoron 8. Rhyme Scheme
9. Assonance 10. Consonance 11. Onomatopoeia
12. Transferred Epithet - A transferred epithet is a figure of speech in which a modifier (usually an
adjective) qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing. In other words, the
modifier or epithet is transferred from the noun it is meant to describe to another noun in the sentence.
Example - An example of a transferred epithet is: "I had a wonderful day." The day is not in itself
wonderful. The speaker had a wonderful day. The epithet "wonderful" actually describes the kind of day
the speaker experienced.
Key points
1. This poem contrasts a tiger when it is in its natural habitat and when it is imprisoned in a zoo.
2. He looks majestic as he moves slowly and quietly in his cage .He has soft velvety pads (paws).He
makes no noise as he moves.
3. The tiger moves slowly up and down in his cage because the space is confined. The tiger is full of
rage but is quiet in his helplessness of being locked up.
4. The poet is moved to pity for the tiger.The poet says that the tiger should have been in the jungle
but sadly the tiger is locked behind bars in a concrete cell.
5. The tiger does not take any notice of the visitors.He has to be content with merely looking at the
stars.
6. He is no longer free to move in his natural habitat and looks at the brilliant stars from there.
7. The use of a word repeated in lines such as these:

a. On pads of velvet quiet, in his quiet rage - The use of quiet with velvet pads describes
that the tiger has to walk in the limited area of his cage. He cannot run as he would have
done had it been in the forest. Whereas ‘quiet rage’ shows the hidden anger inside him
which has grown stronger because of his confinement in the cage.
b. And stares with his brilliant eyes at the brilliant stars- The next word he used is
‘brilliant’. The word brilliant in the first line means the twinkling bright stars and the
brilliant words used for the tiger’s eyes shows the sadness of the tiger who would have
led a free and fearless life if it were in the jungle.
A. Extra Questions – to be done in literature notebook
1. How does the poet present the tiger in the zoo ?

2. What is the natural behavior of the tiger ? How is it different in the zoo ?
3. The tiger who has been caged in the zoo ,misses many things . What are they ?
4. What is the attitude of the tiger towards the visitors ?
B. Reference to Context –
Stanza 1 –
a. Who is ‘he’ in the stanza? Mention two distinctive qualities about ‘him’.
b. Where is ‘he’ now? Why ‘he’ can walk only few steps?
c. Explain ‘pads of velvet quiet’.
d. Why is ‘he’ in rage? Why rage has been called quiet?
Stanza 2 –
a. Where is ‘he’ supposed to be according to the poet?
b. Explain the significance of the words ‘lurking’ and ‘sliding’.
c. What activities ‘he’ is supposed to do in the suggested place?
d. What message does this stanza convey?
Stanza 3 –
a. Why does the poet use the phrase ‘should be’ in the first line?
b. How would tiger terrorize the villagers?
c. How would the tiger behave in his natural habitat?
d. Which words tell us about the tiger’s characteristics?
Stanza 4 –
a. Bring out the significance of the word ‘but’ in the first line?
b. Why is the tiger locked in a concrete cell?
c. Why does the tiger stalk the length of the cage?
d. Why does the tiger ignore the visitors?
Stanza 5 –
a. What does the poet mean by ‘the last voice’?
b. Why does the tiger stare at the stars?
c. Which two things are stated as ‘brilliant’ and why?
d. What is the effect of repetition of words in the poem?

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CLASS X (2021-22)

FIRST FLIGHT - POEM 3 – A TIGER IN THE ZOO

About the Poet

1. Strips : long narrow bands 2. Lurking : lying hidden in order to attack

1. Imagery 2. Alliteration 3. Metaphor 4. Enjambment

5. Repetition 6. Personification 7. Oxymoron 8. Rhyme Scheme

9. Assonance 10. Consonance 11. Onomatopoeia

7. The use of a word repeated in lines such as these:

A. Extra Questions – to be done in literature notebook

1. How does the poet present the tiger in the zoo ?

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