Tiger in the Zoo

LESLIE NORRIS
George Leslie Norris (21 May 1921 – 6 April 2006), was a
prize-winning Welsh poet and short story 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.
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.
 • The importance of freedom.
• The dangers of deforestation and
blessings of forestation.
Theme •All animals remain happy only in their
natural habitat.
• The responsibility of present generation
in preserving the environment and earth.
 •In this poem, the poet tries to depict the
mental condition of a caged tiger. He
compares the life of a tiger in the zoo with
its life in its natural habitat.

Central Idea •The poet conveys an important message

that the wild animals should be left in
their natural habitat and not encaged
forcibly.
•Like humans all the animals also love
freedom.
•He stalks in his vivid stripes                 
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
• Stalks: follows
Vivid: bright colored
Pads: paws of tiger
Rage: anger
• Here the poet says that the tiger that is confined in the zoo moves around in the
cage in his bright coloured skin. He further says that the tiger can take only a
few steps because the cage is small and it is not easy to move in it. One cannot
hear his footsteps because he has very soft feet, like velvet because of which
there is no sound of the tiger’s footsteps. The tiger tries to control his anger by
quietly walking in the limited area of his cage. He is angry because he is not
free.
• Metaphor: Tiger’s paws are compared with velvet (pads of velvet)
• Oxymoron: use of adjectives opposite in meaning (quiet rage)
He should be lurking in shadow,
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole                                         
Where plump deer pass.

Lurking: To be hidden as to wait for your prey

The poet says that if this tiger was free, he would have hid himself
behind the long grass near the water bodies so that he could easily catch
a deer in order to have it as its food. Basically, the poet wants to say that
the actual life of a tiger is to live in jungle where he could catch his prey
and eat it but the tiger in the cage can not do so.
Alliteration: use of sound ‘p’ at the start of two words (plump pass)
 
 He should be snarling around houses
At the jungle’s edge,
Baring his white fangs, his claws,
Terrorising the village!

Snarling: warning sounds made by animals

Baring: uncovered
Fangs: Sharp tooth of animals

Here the poet imagines what the tiger would be doing in case he
failed to find any prey in his natural habitat. He says that the tiger
  would be growling at the edge of jungle near some village. He
  would be showing his white fangs and claws while moving here and
there. He would thus become a cause of terror for the villagers. The
poetess here gives a hint that if we destroy the natural habitat of
tigers, they will be forced to turn to our towns and villages to find
their food.
Onomatopoeia- snarling
But he’s locked in a concrete cell,
His strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.

Concrete: building made of bricks, cement, sand and water

Now the poet comes to the reality of the tiger that is inside the cage. He says that the
tiger is confined in a strong cell which is made of strong building material. He further
says that as the tiger is behind bars, so his ferociousness is also behind the bars. He just
stalks in the cage. He never tries to terrorise the visitors because his power is restricted
by the cage. Therefore, he never tries to terrorise the visitors as he cannot attack them.

Alliteration: use of sound ‘b’ at the start of two words (behind bars)
He hears the last voice at night,
The patrolling cars,
And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.

Patrolling: guarding

The tiger knows no rest during the day because of the visitors.
Even at night he remains disturbed due to the noise of the
patrolling cars. The poet wants to say that the tiger is sad and as
  confined in the cage, so, he cannot do anything. Therefore, he
he is
stares at the stars in the night and tries to divert his thoughts
towards them. He keeps staring at the brilliant stars with his
brilliant eyes. Perhaps he is asking heaven why he has been
imprisoned there.
EXTRA QUESTIONS
Q1. What does the tiger do at night? What does he feel when he stares at the brilliant
stars in the sky? 
Ans. The patrolling cars move around and the tiger hears their sound late at night. He
is locked in a cage but stares at the brilliant stars shining in the vast and open sky. The
vast open sky and the brilliant stars only intensify the feeling of helplessness that he
feels inside the cage.
 
Q2. Freedom can’t be bargained at any cost. What message does Leslie Norris give to
the readers in ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’? 
Ans. Not only humans but animals too cherish freedom. Freedom can’t be bargained.
In this case, a tiger may be well-fed and protected in a zoo. However, the curtailment
of his freedom keeps him in ‘quiet rage’. He resents being behind the bars. He is a
different animal when he is in his natural habitat, the jungle. He roams around the
water hole and ambushes his favourite plump deer.
What do you think is the effect of this repetition?
Answer 2:
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. This double use of ‘quiet’ has brought immense beauty to
the poem. 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. The repetitiveness of these words gives a
wonderful effect to the poem.