Comparative analysis of poems with similar themes

¶ … Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" & "Marriage"

The two poems Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich and Marriage by Gregory Corso are both focused on the social happenings that are experienced in our daily lives. The subject matter of both poems is grounded on marriage as an institution and the societal view of marriage and the view of the people who are involved or supposed to be involved in the marriage. Both poems talk about the vast challenges that are experienced in marriage and the society at large.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers has a persona who describes the activities of the aunt. The speaker describes the knitting action of the aunt who is making a decorative screen that is adorned by the image of tigers who are moving through a jungle. These tigers are depicted as energetic and very agile then the next stanza depicts Aunt Jennifer who is feeble and struggles even to pull the ivory needle trough the fabric. One of the reasons for her feeble hands is the "Uncle's wedding band" that weighs heavily on her finger. Lastly the poem puts forth the possible poor state that Aunt would die in and all her ordeals will still be intact but there will be hope as the tigers on the panel that she made will remain intact and still agile as ever before, a sign of hope again. The poem generally describes the predicament that the marriage life had put the aunt through and the consequences she has now to live with though depicting hope for the young energetic tigers after her.

The poem Marriage by Gregory is an analogous poem, the subject matter in particular. This poem gives a list of facts about a modern man. The poem opens with the rejection of the conventional ways of wooing a lady. For instance the speaker does not bring the wife to be to the movie theater but in place of that, he takes her to the grave yard to seduce her. The whole poem gives a list of the conventional things that the speaker is unable to cope with or do yet these are the conventional things that are done. The speaker then confesses that the thing that he can best do is to shout nonsensical frustrations and to cause as much disharmony and havoc as possible in the society, things that are not acceptable to the society. It is a poem that deconstructs al the conventional thoughts and ways that the society is accustomed to.

The approach of this essay is one that seeks to divulge the similarities and the differences especially in the theme and subject matter of these two poems. Bearing the fact that both poems talk about marriage, the paper looks at the various views that the two poems represent bearing that they approach the institution of marriage from differing angles, the poem Marriage approaches the issue of marriage from outside the institution yet Aunt Jennifer's Tigers approaches the issue from inside the marriage institution.

Firstly in Marriage, the speaker is a first person who has seen the struggles of other people who have dared get into the institution of marriage, it therefore paints a very negative picture of marriage and even indicates that instead of him getting to marriage he would rather get involved in causing a lot of havoc and disharmony in the society. On the other hand, the general feeling of the poem on Aunt is that there are vast challenges that women go through in the marriage life but, there is still hope hence the reason why the speaker says that even with the passing of one generation like 'When Aunt is dead' still 'the tigers in the panel that she made, Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid' indicating that the energy in the younger generation of ladies will keep them strong in the society.

The other point where the two poems connect with each other is on the level of desire of the people described in the poem and the ability to actualize these desires. Aunt Jennifer has the aspiration to be like the tigers that she has carefully knitted on the tapestry, has the wish that she could be assertive, fearless, noble and as powerful as the tigers hoping across the screen. However, this is not possible; indeed these are exactly the opposite of what she is. The tigers enjoy more freedom that does Aunt Jennifer. She is already past the age when these could be actualized and the burden of having been married cannot allow her to enjoy the freedom as 'The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band / Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand'. On the other hand, the poem Marriage depicts a person who knows the harsh realities that come with marriage and he has aspirations that are directly the opposite of what marriage is all about. Fortunately for him, unlike Aunt, he ahs the option of staying away from marriage and live a comfortable life like he wants it, causing havoc and defying the conventions of life. He further describes the marriage process as a mere formality that everyone will know what you are going to do hence no need to get married as it presents nothing new but misery for the man. The two poems therefore intersect on the issue of aspirations; Aunt has the inspirations but cannot actualize them and just hopes that the next generation would while the young unmarried man has the aspirations and is living them as well.