e-CONTENT
A TIGER IN THE ZOO
INRODUCTION
George Leslie Norris (1921 -2006):
“A tiger in the zoo” has been composed by
Leslie Norris. The port has compared the activities of a tiger in
the zoo with the tiger in its natural habitat. The description begin from the
zoo and moves to the jungle. After through study of its natural habitat, it
moves b ack again to the zoo.
George Leslie Norris FRSL (21 May 1921 – 6 April 2006), was a
prize-winning Welsh poet and shortstory writer. He taught at academic
institutions in Britain and the United States , including Brigham
Young University. Norris is considered one of the most important
Welsh writers of the post-war period, and his literary publications have won
many prizes.
EARLY LIFE :
George Leslie Norris was born in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. His parents were George and Mary Jane
Norris. Leslie had two younger brothers, Eric and Gordon. His father George
worked as a miner, but after First
World War became
a milkman because of his declining health. Leslie grew up in Wales during the Great Depression. He enjoyed reading books and playing
sports as a kid. He attended Georgetown Primary School from 1926 to 1931. He attended Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar
School after that.
Throughout school, Norris
was involved in sports like football, soccer, and boxing. By age 12, Leslie knew he wanted to be
a poet and he went to listen to acclaimed poets like Dylan Thomas and Vernon
Watkins. He
published his first poem in 1938 at the age of seventeen. That same year,
Norris had to drop out of school due to financial pressures. He began working
as a rates clerk in the Town Hall in Merthyr.
When he was nineteen years
old he joined the Royal
Air Force during the Second World War. In May 1940 he trained as a pilot. He
got blood poisoning, however, from steel ropes, and was
discharged in June 1941. His father died the next year of cancer. Norris
returned to his work at the town hall. He became a soccer referee and was part
of the Merthyr Referees Society.
Leslie
married Catherine (Kitty) Morgan in July 1948, and they remained together the
rest of his life. While publicly the
couple maintained that they had no children, Norris confided to close friends
that they had one child who died in infancy. Kitty was a chemist, and Norris
was her second husband. Shortly after their marriage, Leslie was accepted at
the City of Coventry Teacher Training College.
.
TEACHING CAREER :
After Leslie's graduation, he taught at the
Grass Royal School in Yeovil, Somerset. In 1952, he transferred to Southdown Junior
School in Bath, Somerset. He later became headmaster of Westergate School in West Sussex. He obtained a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Southampton in 1958. He secured a job as a lecturerin 1958 at Bognor Regis College of Education
and later taught at the West
Sussex Institute of Higher Learning. There, his wife taught as well until 196. Leslie was a principal lecturer at the
West Sussex Institute from 1956 to 1974.[4]
Leslie became a visiting professor at the University of Washington in 1973. He was so impacted by his
experience teaching in America that he returned to England only to
resign as principal at Bognor Regis.[5] Leslie was Residential Poet at Eton in 1977. In 1976, he and his wife visited New
England. From 1980–1982 he visited to Seattle,
Washington and East Carolina University.
In 1983 Norris was invited to teach for six
months at Brigham Young
University (BYU) in Provo,
Utah, United States of America. He settled with his wife, Catherine
Morgan, and remained there until his death. He was appointed the official
Poet-in-Residence at the university. Leslie was made a Professor of Creative Writing. His wife also taught at BYU.
Some
of his documents, personal materials and letters are in the L. Tom Perry Special
Collections at the Harold B.
Lee Library at BYU.
LITERARY WORK :
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.
In addition
to poems and short stories, Norris published translation, biographies, and reviews.
His personal works deal with such themes as
his Welsh home, his past, especially the pre-war period, his experiences as a
teacher, nature, and the life of the instinct. He is considered a fine
technician. In 1989 he published a translation of Sonnets to Orpheus with another professor at BYU.
PUBLICATIONS :
Finding Gold (1967)
The
Loud Winder (1967)
Phoenix
Living Poets series: Ransoms (1970)
Mountains,
Polecats, Pheasants (1974)
Sliding (1978)
The
Girl from Cardigan (1988)
Norris's
Ark (1988)
The
Collected Poems (1996)
Collected
Stories of Leslie Norris (1996)
AWARDS:
Holy Places (1998) His work was won numerous awards,
including the Cholmondeley Poetry Prize, the David Higham Memorial Prize,
the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award, the AML Award for poetry (in 1996), and the Welsh Arts Council
Senior Fiction Award. He is also an honorary Doctor
of Letters of the University of Glamorgan, and honorary Doctor of Humane Letters of BYU.
Leslie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Welsh Academy.
Leslie died on
April 6, 2006 in Provo.
A TIGER IN THE ZOO
- LESLIE NORRIS
He stalks in his vivid stripes
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
He should be lurking in
shadow,
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole
Where plump deer pass.
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole
Where plump deer pass.
He should be snarling around houses
At the jungle’s edge
Baring his wife and ,his
claws,
Terrorising ,the village !
His but he’s locked in a concrete cell,
Strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.
He hears the last voice at night ,
The patrolling cars ,
And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.
This
poem has two distinct settings. The first setting is that of the zoo and it is
the setting that the tiger inhabits in reality. The second setting is that of
the forest and it is the setting that the tiger has been taken out of and no
longer has access to, and also the setting that the poet would like the tiger
to inhabit once again. These two settings are contrasted against each other. In
doing so, the poet’s motive is to show how much better the tiger is suited to
the second setting than the first. The tiger belongs to the wild and that is
where it should remain, feels the poet.
The poem consists of 5 stanzas. Each of
these stanzas is again made up of 4 lines. Hence, the entire poem consists of
20 lines in total.
FIRST STANZ
He stalks
in his vivid stripes
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
In this stanza, the poet
describes the appearance of the tiger in the zoo and its daily movements. He
says that the stripes on its body are darker in colour than the rest of its
coat, and so they stand out distinctly, even when seen from a distance. He
moves very softly and steadily, as is the habit of tigers in the wild. The only
difference is that this tiger can only walk the length of its cage, and it
covers that distance in a few mere steps only. The underside of the tiger’s
paws is as smooth as velvet and so they do not create any sound as it is
walking. It seems as if all the anger that the tiger feels at being caged is
also suppressed in the same way.
SECOND STANZA
He should be lurking in shadow,
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole
Where plump deer pass.
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole
Where plump deer pass.
In
this stanza, the poet imagines an alternate life for the tiger that is
currently living in a zoo. He imagines what it would be like if the said tiger
were to be living in the wild. He says that under normal circumstances, a tiger
such as this one should be moving about not in clear day light, but only in the
darkness among shadowy places in a forest or suchlike. The tiger should be
hiding itself behind long grass so that its prey will not be able to detect its
movement. In this way, the tiger should approach the water hole where all the
animals of the forest come to drink on sunny afternoons. There it will come
face to face with deer that are appropriately fattened for its consumption. In
other words, the tiger should be left in the wild to hunt and gather its own
food, rather than be fed by zoo authorities.
THIRD STANZA
He should be snarling around
houses
At the jungle’s edge,
Baring his white fangs, his claws,
Terrorising the village!
At the jungle’s edge,
Baring his white fangs, his claws,
Terrorising the village!
In this
stanza, the poet says that even though he would prefer the tiger to live in the
wild, it is not as if it would lose all touch with human civilization. Once in
a while, its day to day movements would lead it towards the outer boundary of
the forest, where a few human residences can be found. The tiger would growl in
its low and intimidating voice as it walked at the periphery of those houses.
It would not bother to hide its fangs or its claws, instead revealing them
openly with the intention of scaring all the inhabitants of that village.
FOURTH STANZA
But he’s locked in a concrete cell,
His strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.
His strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.
In
this stanza, the poet once again gets a reality check. He stops imaging the
tiger’s alternate life and returns to its real one. He says that the tiger in
locked up, like a prisoner in a jail, within a small cell made up of concrete.
All the strength that resides in its body is locked behind bars of metal that
make up the gate of its cell. Hundreds, or even thousands, of people come to
see the tiger every day at the zoo, but it does not pay any heed to these
visitors. Instead the tiger prefers to walk stealthily all over its cage by
itself and without any disturbance in the form of human intervention.
FIFTH STANZA
He hears the last voice at night,
The patrolling cars,
And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.
The patrolling cars,
And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.
In
this stanza, the poet describes how the day ends for the tiger. It stays awake
till the very last voice of the zookeeper locking up and going home can be
heard. After that too, it does not go to sleep. All night, park rangers keep a
watch over the surroundings of the zoo while driving around in their official
vehicles. The tiger stays awake and hears the sounds made by the cars of the
patrolmen. The stars twinkle brightly in the night sky, and so do the eyes of
the tiger. The tiger keeps staring at the stars as sleep eludes it always.
ANALYSIS OF THE POEM:
The
poet’s mode of writing is a very intelligent one here. By setting up a contrast
between the real and the ideal, he makes an important point about wildlife
conservation. The tiger belongs in the forest. There it can hunt as and when
required. It hunts not out of envy or out of hatred, as human beings do, but
only as a survival strategy. Humans believe that the tiger is dangerous, but in
fact it is humans who are a danger to each other, and the tiger is relatively
benign.
It
kills deer, it is true, but this maintains the healthy distribution of
predators and prey in the ecosystem of the forest. In the wild, the tiger can
roam freely. This is a sight that has fascinated photographers for centuries
and it is also a sight we lap up when we’re watching a wildlife special on
television. Yet we do not hesitate to cage up such an independent creature. We
do not think it is degrading to pay to watch such a creature in a jail cell, or
even worse, in a circus or a movie set.
The poet’s point is that we should all feel that way. We should
return all animals to their natural habitat. We should protect forests. Instead
of taking forest lands away for agriculture or industrialisation, we should
give these lands back to their original inhabitants. For once, we should stop
considering what would spell profit for ourselves, and consider what should
spell profit for animals such as the tiger. This is the important message that
the poet gives us, and we should all pay heed to it
POETIC DEVICES IN A TIGER IN THE
ZOO:
Rhyme scheme:
Each of the five stanzas of “A tiger in the Zoo” follows the same simple
rhyme scheme – ABCB.
Personification:
This rhetorical device is used to bestow human qualities
on something that is not human. In this poem, the poet uses the device of
personification with respect to the tiger that is mentioned in the title of the
poem. He refers to the tiger not as “it”, but as “he”.
Metaphor:
This rhetorical device is used when a covert comparison
is made between two different things or ideas. In this poem, the poet uses the
device of metaphor in the 3rd line of
the 1st stanza when he compares the pads of the tiger’s feet with
velvet, since both are soft and smooth to the touch.
Metonymy:
This rhetorical device consists of the substitution of
the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant. In this poem,
the poet uses the device of metonymy in the 2nd line of the 4th stanza,
he uses the word “strength” to mean the body of the tiger, where the entire
strength of this majestic creature resides and which is locked up within a cage
in the zoo.
CENTRAL IDEA OF A TIGER IN THE ZOO :
The
poet shows his readers that a tiger is better suited to living in the wild
rather than living in a zoo. In the wild, it can roam freely and hunt as and
when it requires food. It can approach human habitation and intimidate its
inhabitants, but will not harm them unless it is provoked. On the other hand,
in the zoo, its radius of movement is very small, it feels like a prisoner in a
jail cell, it is fed by the zoo authorities and so it unlearns how to live by
itself and is made lazy. It does not appreciate humans coming to look at it. It
cannot even sleep at night because it is angry at being caged. All in all, the
tiger lives an unnatural and unhappy life in the zoo.
SUMMARY :
Tiger as a
proud creature: In this poem, the poet shows how proud a creature the
tiger is, and as a consequence, why it should never by caged on zoo premises.
In the wild, the tiger hunts its own food all alone and without any help from
others of its kind. The stealthy hunting of deer at the water hole may seem
cruel, but it is merely a survival strategy. Tigers hunt only when they need to
eat. Moreover, this helps to keep the food chain of the forest balanced and
thus it keeps the ecosystem healthy as well.
Even
when the tiger occasionally strays into human habitation, it only growls at the
inhabitants but does not kill them or harm them in any other way unless it is
put under extreme provocation. In the zoo as well, the tiger’s pride is
noticeable to all. Hundreds of visitors flock to its cage every day, but it
ignores them all, roaming about on its own. However, in the reduced space of
the cage, it cannot move freely. That is why the poet believes that all tigers
should live in the wild and none in the zoo. They are not really a danger to
human life, and so they should not be confined.
CONCLUSION :
Conservation
of natural habitat: Zoos came up
not only as a source of passing entertainment for man, but also because forest
lands are now hard to come by. Most of these lands have been cleared for
agriculture or industrialisation. As a result, many animals like the tiger have
lost their natural habitat and have been forced to live at zoos or travel as
part of a circus. However, the poet shows that an animal is always more
majestic when seen in its natural habitat rather than in an artificial setting
such as a zoo. In doing so, his message to readers is that we should all strive
to conserve the natural habitat of the earth’s animal life. We should plant
trees and stop the activities of hunters and poachers in order to make forests
available and safe for the habitation of animals like the tiger.
OBJECTIVES:
At the
end of the poem you will be able to
comprehends the poem a
tiger in the zoo
analysis of the poem
findouts the new vocabulary
identifies the
correct rhyme scheme
explains the central theme of the poem.
ASSIGNMENT:
Collect the various types
of tiger pictures and paste in the chart.
Describe about the poem ,”A TIGER IN THE ZOO”
TUTORIALS
1.Identify the figure of speech in ‘a tiger in the zoo
‘.
2.Write about your
experience of the poem” A TIGER IN THE ZOO”. in
your view.
LINKS
:
https://beamingnotes.com
> 2016/08/08
https://tnpsc.academy
>unit >a-tiger-in-t….
https://www.kiddingtowncom
>a-tiger..i…
https://englishforschools
. wordpress.com
https://sites.google.com
>English-reader
GLOSSARY:
Baring -
reveal ,expose ,show.
Fangs - long sharp teeth.
Lurking -
hiding ,sneaking .
Patrolling -
protect ,keep guard.
Plump -
chubby ,burly ,fleshy.
Sliding -
accelerate ,move down.
Snarling -
grumble ,abuse .mutter.
Stalks -
bent , support,shaft.
Velvet -
fabic ,nap,plush.
Vivid - active ,bright.
FAQs WITH
ANSWER
1. He stalks in his vivid stripes.’How
does the tiger look in his cage?
The tiger has
sharp, clear stripes on his body.He looks majestic as he moves slowly and
quietly in his cage. He has soft velvety pads.He makes no noise as he moves.
2.
‘On pads of velvet quiet /in his quiet rage, what does the tiger do in his
cage?
It is a very small cage. The tiger can hardly take a few
steps along the length of the cage. He cannot express himself fully in this
claustrophobic atmosphere. He does not take any notice of the visitors who come
there. He always wishes to be free from this cage.
3. ‘He should be lurking in the
shadows /sliding through long grass ‘what should the tiger be doing if he were
in the jungle?
The tiger would be lurking in
the shadows of trees. He would be sliding slowly through the long grass. He
would be sitting by some water hole and waiting for some plump deer to pass
that way. Here, the poet presents the tiger’s hunting process.
4.
How can you distinguish between a tiger and a leopard?
A tiger has a yellow coat. It
has black stripes on its body. A leopard doesn’t have any stripes. It has spots
on its body. A tiger kills only when it is hungry. A leopard can kill for the
pleasure of killing.
5. Describe
the movement sand actions of the tiger in the jungle.
In the jungle, the tiger lies in the shade waiting for his
prey. He moves quietly through long grass near the water hole where flesh deer
come to drink water. Sometimes, he growls around the houses at the edge of the
jungle and terrorizes the villages.
6. Describe the movement and actions of the
tiger in the cage.
The tiger paces up and down the length of his cage
restlessly. He ignores the visitors as his strength is confined to the cage. At
night, he hears the sound of patrolling cars. He stares at the brilliant stars
with his brilliant eyes.
7. How can you tell a lion from a Bengal tiger?
A lion has a large body. It has a tawny coat. A Bengal
tiger has black stripes on its yellow coat. A lion roars when it falls upon its
prey. A tiger attacks silently.
8.. What is the central idea of the poem “A Tiger in
the Zoo’?
In this poem, the poet is trying to contrast a tiger in the
zoo with the tiger in its real natural habitat. In order to show the
contradiction the poet shifts the scene from the jungle to the zoo. The poet
wants to show the difference between the two environments.
9.
What is the central idea of the
poem ‘How to Tell Wild Animals’?
The poet suggests some of the dangerous ways to identify
the wild animals. The poem is full of humorous examples when the poet tries to
distinguish one animal from the others. It is not safe to be close to the
tigers and lions but the poet suggests very risky way to identify these
animals. The poem is educative as it also tells us various features of wild
animals.
10. Why should the tiger snarl around
houses at the edge of the forest ?
The tiger should snarl around houses at the
edge of the forest because of the following reasons: - Firstly the villagers
will not disturb the peace of the forest. Secondly they will kill the animals
for money or just for fun.
QUIZ WITH ANSWER:
1.
Who wrote the poem ‘ A Tiger in the Zoo’ ?
a . ST.coleridge b. Leslie Norris .
c.
Ralph Waldo d. Berton
2. Find
out the poem from which the following lines occurred?
“Stalking the length of his cage, Ignoring visitors”.
“Stalking the length of his cage, Ignoring visitors”.
a. Migrant Bird b. A Tiger in the Zoo
c. The Flying wonder d. Laugh and Be Me
3. Find out the figure of speech in the
following lines.
“He stalks in his vivid stripes
The few steps of his cage”
“He stalks in his vivid stripes
The few steps of his cage”
a. Simile b. Metaphor
c. Alliteration d. Personification
4. Mention the poem in which the
following lines appear :
“He should be lurking in the shadow
Sliding through the long grass”.
“He should be lurking in the shadow
Sliding through the long grass”.
a. The Bird and
the Crumb b. A Tiger in the Zoo
c. The Road Not
Taken . d. Snake
5. Pick out the line which occurs in
the poem ‘ A Tiger in the Zoo’.
a. I won’t look down b. He hears the last voice
at night
c. O
the bleeding drops O red d. I listened
motionless and still
6.
The captured tiger is talking in –
a.
the cage b. the zoo
c.
the house d. the forest.
7. The tiger should be lurking in the
grass
a. for taking
rest b. for his prey.
c. for leisure d. for play
8. The tiger snarls around
a. the jungle b. the cage
c. the
zoo d. the houses in the village
9. The strength of the tiger after being captured is now
a. in his paws
b. in his room
c.
at night d. at noon
10 . The
tiger hears the last voice
A. in the morning b. at
noon
c.
at
night. D. at
evening.
REFERENCE:
^
“Leslie Norris’’ .The Royal Society of Literature.Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ “Author Profile Leslie
Norris’’.Literary Worlds :Illumination of the Mind.Brigham Young University.
^ “Leslie Norris - 1921-2006’’ .Writer’s Plaques. Literary
Wales.Retrived 3 May 2016.
SYNOPSIS:
Humans believe that the tiger is
dangerous, but in fact it is humans who are a danger to each other, and the
tiger is relatively benign. The poet shows his readers that a tiger is better
suited to living in the wild rather than living in a zoo. In the wild, it can
roam freely and hunt as and when it requires food. As a result, many animals
like the tiger have lost their natural habitat and have been forced to live at
zoos or travel as part of a circus. However, the poet shows that an animal is
always more majestic when seen in its natural habitat rather than in an
artificial setting such as a zoo. In doing so, his message to readers is that
we should all strive to conserve the natural habitat of the earth’s animal
life.
Keywords : wildlife ,Zoo, Night.
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