Last Updated on February 2, 2023 by Admin
Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Poem 3 A Tiger in the Zoo By Leslie Norris.
A Tiger in the Zoo By Leslie Norris
About the Poet
George Leslie Norris born on 21 May, 1921 in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales and died on 6 April 2006, Provo, Utah, United States was a prizewinning 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 like Cholmondeley Poetry Prize, the David Higham Memorial Prize, the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award, and the Welsh Arts Council Senior Fiction Award.
His famous works are Finding Gold (1967), The Loud Winder (1967), Phoenix Living Poets series: Ransoms (1970), Mountains, Polecats, Pheasants (1974), Sliding: Short Stories (1978), The Girl from Cardigan (1988), Norris’s Ark (1988), The Collected Poems (1996), Collected Stories of Leslie Norris (1996), Holy Places (1998), A Tiger in the Zoo (1938), etc.
Central Idea
The poem composed by Leslie Norris explains the pitiable and helpless condition of a caged tiger that lives in a zoo. The poet explains the importance of freedom and says that animals like to live freely in the forest. They do not want to live in the zoo or in a cage. In the forest, the tiger can enjoy complete freedom. He would walk around freely without any fear. He would terrorize the villagers by growling. He would show his teeth and claws. what his life could be if he had been a free animal. The poet says that human beings have caged animals for their on fun. The poet wants to convey that like human beings, animals also like freedom. They do not want to be caged, they cannot live a miserable life. If their habitat is destroyed by human beings, these animals cannot survive.
About the Poem
In this poem the poet has compared the activities of a tiger in the zoo with the tiger in its natural habitat. The Tiger moves slowly and quietly inside the cage in his very bright stripes. He takes a few steps in his cage on pads of velvet quiet and humbly snarls in his quiet rage.
The Tiger should be waiting somewhere secretly in the shadow, sliding through the long grass of the wild, near the water-hole in a forest for wild animal’s where the plump dear pass. The Tiger should be showing his teeth and making angry noises around houses at the edge of the jungle. But now the Tiger is locked up in a concrete cell and all his strength is kept behind bars. He spends his time stalking the length of his cage and ignoring all visitors. The voice of the patrolling cars is the last voice he hears every night and that is then he stares with his brilliant eyes at the brilliant stars above.
This poem contrasts a tiger in the zoo with the tiger in its natural habitat. The poem moves from the zoo to the jungle, and back again to the zoo. Read the poem silently once, and say which stanzas speak about the tiger in the zoo, and which ones speak about the tiger in the jungle.
Stanza-1
[He stalks in his vivid stripes
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.]
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Stalks | walks stiffly, follows, pursue or approach stealthily. |
| Vivid | bright colored |
| Stripes | lines on skin |
| Pads | paws of tiger |
| Velvet | delicate, soft |
| Quite rage | unexpressed anger |
Literary Devices
- Rhyme scheme: ab cb
- Personification: ‘He’ (The tiger is personified because the poet refers him as ‘he’ )
- Metaphor: “pads of velvet” (Tiger’s paws are compared with velvet)
- Imagery: “He stalks in his vivid stripes.” | “velvet quiet”
- Consonance: use of ‘s’ sound (stalks, his, stripes)
- Assonance: (स्वर-साम्य/ स्वरावृत्ति) “in his vivid stripes” (use of vowel sound ‘I’)
- Oxymoron: “quiet rage” (use of adjectives opposite in meaning)
Stanza-2
[He should be lurking in shadow,
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole
Where plump deer pass.]
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Lurking | to be hidden as to wait for your prey/ wait in hiding to attack |
| Shadow | shade of the tree |
| Sliding | gliding/walking secretly |
| Water hole | (here) pond, lake or river |
| Plump | fat/ having a full rounded shape |
Literary Devices
- Rhyme Scheme: ab cb
- Enjambment:(अपूर्णान्वय) “Sliding through long grass/ Near the water hole” (Line continues to next line without punctuation marks.)
- Alliteration:(अनुप्रास) “Where plump deer pass” (Use of sound ‘p’ at the start of two words)
- Imagery:“lurking in shadow” (The poet has tried to create an image of tiger’s activities.)
Stanza-3
[He should be snarling around houses
At the jungle’s edge,
Baring his white fangs, his claws,
Terrorising the village!]
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Snarling | making an angry, warning sound/roaring |
| The houses | (here) villages |
| Baring | uncovered |
| Edge | end |
| Fangs | sharp teeth of animals |
| Terrorising | scaring, frightening |
Literary Devices
- Rhyme scheme: ab cb
- Enjambment: ”He should be snarling around houses/ At the jungle’s edge” (Line continues to next line without punctuation marks.)
- Onomatopoeia:“snarling around houses” (The word ‘snarling’ denotes sound)
- Assonance:(स्वर-साम्य/ स्वरावृत्ति) should, around, houses || Baring, his, white, his (here use of vowel sound ‘o’ and ‘I’ are repeated.)
- Consonance: his, fangs, his, claws (Consonant sound ‘s’ is repeated)
Stanza-4
[But he’s locked in a concrete cell,
His strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage, Ignoring visitors.]
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Locked | closed |
| Concrete | building made of bricks, cement, sand and water |
| Cell | cage/ prison/lock-up/a small room |
| His strength behind bars | His strength and power is bounded between four walls. |
| Stalking | following/ walking stiffly |
| Stalking the length of his cage | (here) he is walking in the limited space of the cage. |
| Ignoring visitors | he ignores to those who have kept him in the cage. |
Literary Devices
- Rhyme Scheme: ab cb (bars-visitors)
- Personification:“But he’s locked in a concrete cell” (The tiger is personified because the poet refers him as ‘he’.
- Assonance: “But he’s locked in a concrete cell” (Use of vowel sound ‘e’ is repeated in the wordsꟷ he, locked, concrete, cell.
- Consonance: “His strength behind bars” (The repetition of consonant sound ‘s’ in the wordsꟷ his, strength, bars.
- Alliteration: “His strength behind bars” (The repetition of consonant sound ‘b’ at the beginning of words ꟷ behind bars.
Stanza-5
[He hears the last voice at night,
The patrolling cars,
And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.]
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| The last voice | sounds of the patrolling cars |
| Patrolling | watch over, to guard, to vigil |
| Patrolling cars | the vehicles of police which are used to guard at night |
| Stares | looks fixedly or vacantly |
| Brilliant eyes | shining eyes |
| Brilliant stars | shining stars |
Literary Devices
- Rhyme Scheme: ab cb (cars ꟷ stars)
- Enjambment:“And stares with his brilliant eyes | At the brilliant stars.” (Line third continues to line fourth without any punctuation mark.)
- Alliteration:“He hears the last voice at night”, (the repetition of sound ‘h’ in the starting of two wordsꟷ he hears.)
- Assonance:(स्वर-साम्य/ स्वरावृत्ति) “And stares with his brilliant eyes” (the vowel sound ‘I’ is repeated in the wordsꟷ with, his, brilliant.)
Thinking About The Poem
Q1: Read the poem again, and work in pairs or groups to do the following tasks.
(i) Find the words that describe the movements and actions of the tiger in the case and in the wild. Arrange them in two columns.
Answer:
| In the cage | In the wild |
|---|---|
| Stalks Few steps of his cage Quiet rage Locked in a concrete cell Stalking the length of his cage Ignoring visitors Stares at the brilliant stars | Lurking in shadow Sliding through long grass Snarling around houses Baring his white fangs, his claws Terrorising the village |
(ii) Find the words that describe the two places, and arrange them in two columns. Now try to share ideas about how the poet uses words and images to contrast the two situations.
Answer:
| Cage | Wild |
|---|---|
| Few steps of his cage Concrete cell Locked Behind bars Visitors Patrolling cars | Shadow Long grass Water hole Plump deer Houses at the jungle’s edge Village |
Q 2: Notice the use of a word repeated in lines such as these:
(i) On pads of velvet quiet, In his quiet rage.
(ii) And stares with his brilliant eyes At the brilliant stars.
What do you think is the effect of this repetition?
Ans: This repetition is a poetic device used by the poet in order to enhance the beauty of the poem. ‘Velvet quiet’ refers to the quiet velvet pads of the tiger, which cannot run or leap. They can only walk around the limited space in the cage. The use of ‘quiet rage’ symbolises the anger and ferocity that is building up inside the tiger as it wants to run out into the forest and attack a deer, but the rage is quiet because it cannot come out in the open as it is in the cage.
Similarly, the use of ‘brilliant’ for the tiger’s eyes as well as the stars also brings out the magnificence of these lines. The tiger has dreams of being free in its ‘brilliant’ eyes. It sees the stars (that have also been described as brilliant) with the same eyes. It stares at the brilliant stars with its brilliant eyes thinking about how beautiful its life could be in the forest.
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