which are the literary devices in poem A tiger in the zoo with examples
Answers
Answer:
The poem begins with a description of a tiger that is very beautiful and is walking in his little cage. He has beautiful stripes on his skin and has velvet like soft paws. But the tiger is not happy and is quite angry about being confined in the cage. The poet says that if the tiger was not confined to the zoo cage, he would have been hiding himself behind the long grass near some water body, in order to catch its prey that is the deer. Also, he would have terrorised the residents of the villages around the forest area. But the reality is totally opposite to this. He was confined in a cage which was made up of strong building material and he was helpless there. He could not show his power to the visitors, therefore, never tried to terrorize them. The tiger is described as being powerless and agonized by the poet. He says that during night also he is alone, hearing the voice of the patrolling vehicles of police and looking at the stars. The cage life has totally changed the tiger’s personality. The poet is trying to say that the animal which is famous for its fearlessness and freedom is confined and sad due to the human beings who want to derive pleasure by looking at him in the zoo cage.
A Tiger in the Zoo by George Leslie Norris tells about the agony & helplessness of a tiger in a zoo. If he had become a free animal, the poet explained what his future could be. The poet has attempted to explain the situation of animals "caged" by people for their own enjoyment.
Explanation:
Literary devices used in the first paragraph
"He stalks in his vivid stripes.....Inn his quiet rage."
- Personification: The tiger is personified because the poet refers him as ‘he’.
- Metaphor: Tiger’s paws are compared with velvet (pads of velvet)
- Enjambment: Sentence is continuing (1st line continues to the second line) to next line without any "punctuation mark". ("He stalks in his vivid stripes The few steps of his cage")
- Imagery: poet creates an image "about the tiger" ("He stalks in his "vivid stripes" The "few steps of his cage")
- Consonance: use of ‘s’ sound ("stalks, his, stripes")
- Assonance: use of vowel sound ‘I’ ("in his vivid stripes")
- Oxymoron: use of adjectives opposite in meaning ("quiet rage")
Literary device in the 2nd stanza
"He should be lurking in shadow,.......Where plump deer pass"
- Enjambment: Line continues to (2nd line continues to the third line without punctuation; 3rd line goes to the fourth line without punctuation) next line without punctuation marks. ("Sliding through long grass…Near the water hole....where plump deer pass")
- Imagery: An image of tiger’s activities ("lurking in shadow").
- Alliteration: use of sound ‘p’ at the start of 2 words
Literary Device of the 3rd stanza
" He should be...................Terrorising the village!"
- Enjambment: Line continues to (1st line continues to second line without punctuation mark) next line without punctuation marks ("He should be snarling around houses""At the jungle’s edge",)
- Onomatopoeia: using words that indicate sound ("snarling")
- Assonance: use of vowel sound ‘I’ & ‘o’ ("should, around, houses"), (Baring, his, white, his)
- Consonance: use of consonant sound ‘s’ ("his, fangs, his, claws")
Literary Device of 4th stanza
"But he’s locked in a concrete cell,................Ignoring visitors."
- Personification: The tiger is personified since the poet refers to the tiger as as ‘he’.
- Assonance: use of vowel sound ‘e’ ("he, locked, concrete, cell")
- Consonance: use of consonant sound ‘s’ ("his, strength, bars")
- Alliteration: use of sound ‘b’ at the beginning of 2 words ("behind bars")
Literary Device of 5th stanza
"He hears the last voice at night,...........At the brilliant stars."
- Enjambment: Line 3 continues to line 4 without any punctuation mark. ("And stares with his brilliant eyes" "At the brilliant stars".)
- Alliteration: use of sound ‘h’ in the starting of two words ("he hears")
- Assonance: use of ‘I’ sound ("with, his, brilliant")