Tiger in the MenagerieEmma Jones

William Blake’s famous poem…

Menagerie

• a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition.

Animal artists at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. From the magazine "L'Illustration", 7 August 1902.

Emma Jones

• Born in Sydney • Studied at University of Sydney & University of

Cambridge, where she obtained her Ph.D• Published her first book, The Striped World, in

2009• One of Australia’s most exciting up-and-

coming poets

What’s the poem about?

• The theme of a striped world• Human control and restraint of wild creatures• Conflict & Violence• Artificially-controlled aggression• Hidden true capabilitiesDiverse interpretations!

Tiger in the MenagerieNo one could say how the tiger got into the menagerie.It was too flash, too blue, too much like the painting of a tiger.

At night the bars of the cage and the stripes of the tigerlooked into each other so longthat when it was time for those eyes to rock shut

the bars were the lashes of the stripesthe stripes were the lashes of the bars

*a row of evenly spaced columns supporting a roof, an entablature, or arches.** ornamental design in wood, typically openwork, done with a fretsaw

and they walked together in their dreams so longthrough the long colonnade*that shed its fretwork** to the Indian main

that when the sun rose they'd gone and the tiger was one clear orange eye that walked into the menagerie.

No one could say how the tiger got out in the menagerie.

It was too bright, too bare.If the menagerie could, it would say 'tiger'.

If the aviary* could, it would lock its door.Its heart began to beat in rows of rising birds when the tiger came inside to wait.

* a large cage, building, or enclosure for keeping birds in.

Vocabulary

colonnade fretwork

VocabularyAviary

Form & Structure

• 19 lines• No particular structure• No rhyme scheme (style is extremely free)• Uses repetition of “too” to make the descriptions seem

unrealistic, surreal• Anaphora – the repetition of a word or phrase at the

beginning of successive clauses/lines, e.g. “No one could say how the tiger got into the menagerie” and “No one could say how the tiger got out in the menagerie.”

• Alliteration, metaphor & personification• Striking imagery conveyed through clear language.

Tone, Mood & Figurative Language

• Tone – awestruck• Mood – dreamlike, curious, surreal• Cryptic syntax* e.g. “the bars were the lashes of

the stripes, the stripes were the lashes of the bars” – her use of unique syntax seems to make the cage evert – leaving the tiger on the outside!

• Paradox - a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true.

*Syntax - the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Think about it…

Are we like the tiger?

Are we like the menagerie?

Check out more resources here…

• https://prezi.com/fpsm7mppywbq/untitled-prezi/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BZFFOZA0ws

• http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/EmmaJonesview.html

• http://www.hotsdots.com/poetry/2009/08/emma-jones-the-striped-world-london-faber-2009-55pp/

Essay questions:

• How does Emma Jones make her poem ‘The Tiger in the Menagerie’ powerfully moving and fearful to the readers at the same time?

Or:• How does Emma Jones skilfully contrast the

real nature of the tiger with its behaviour in captivity?