Class 10 English — First Flight (Poetry): Poem 3 — A Tiger in the Zoo
by Leslie Norris
NCERT Questions & Answers + Important Extra Questions
NCERT Textbook Questions
Read the poem again, and work in pairs to list the__( words that describe the tiger and its activities.
Answer
In the zoo (captivity): "stalks in his quiet rage," "few steps of his cage," "locked in a concrete cell," "ignoring visitors," "stares with his brilliant eyes at the brilliant stars." — words convey suppressed anger, confinement, powerlessness, loneliness, and longing.
In the wild (imagined): "lurking in shadow," "sliding through long grass," "snarling around houses at the jungle's edge," "terrorising the village," "baring his white fangs, his claws." — words convey power, stealth, freedom, danger, and natural majesty.
What does the__( poet think the tiger should be doing?
Answer
The poet thinks the tiger should be in the wild jungle, living freely: (i) Lurking in shadow, sliding through long grass near a water hole, waiting to ambush prey (a plump deer). (ii) Snarling around houses at the edge of a jungle village, terrorising humans — which is the natural behaviour of a wild tiger. (iii) Baring his white fangs and claws — displaying his natural power and ferocity. Instead, the tiger is reduced to walking back and forth in a tiny cage, a shadow of what he should be.
How does the poet contrast the tiger in the zoo with the tiger in the wild?
Answer
Tiger in the zoo: (i) Walks in "quiet rage" — angry but helpless. (ii) Confined to "few steps of his cage" — his entire world is a small concrete cell. (iii) "Ignores visitors" — shows contempt and detachment from his captors. (iv) At night, "stares at the brilliant stars" — longing for the vast open sky he should be under. He is a magnificent creature reduced to a spectacle for bored visitors.
Tiger in the wild: (i) "Lurking in shadow" — stealthy, powerful, in control. (ii) Near a "water hole" — part of a living ecosystem. (iii) "Terrorising the village" — feared and respected, at the top of the food chain. (iv) "Baring his white fangs, his claws" — using his natural weapons, living as nature intended.
The contrast is between freedom and captivity, power and helplessness, dignity and degradation.
Important Extra Questions
What message does the poem convey?
Answer
The poem conveys: (i) Animals should not be kept in zoos. A zoo cage is a prison for a wild animal — it strips away the animal's dignity, natural behaviour, and freedom. (ii) Captivity causes suffering. The tiger's "quiet rage" shows he is in deep emotional distress. His ignoring visitors shows he has withdrawn into himself. (iii) Animals are sentient beings with emotional lives — the tiger feels anger, longing, and sadness. He stares at the stars, perhaps dreaming of the open jungle. (iv) Human cruelty: We cage magnificent creatures for our entertainment, reducing a feared predator to a pacing, broken animal. (v) The poem is a plea for wildlife conservation and against the captivity of wild animals.
What poetic devices are used in the poem?
Answer
(i) Contrast/Juxtaposition: The entire poem is built on contrasting the tiger's life in the zoo with what it should be in the wild. (ii) Imagery: Vivid images — "sliding through long grass," "brilliant eyes at the brilliant stars," "locked in a concrete cell." (iii) Personification: The tiger is given human emotions — rage, longing, contempt. (iv) Oxymoron: "quiet rage" — his anger is suppressed, making it more powerful. (v) Alliteration: "his strength behind bars," "brilliant...brilliant." (vi) Metaphor: The cage is a metaphor for all forms of confinement and oppression. (vii) Repetition: "He" at the beginning of stanzas creates a rhythmic, list-like effect.
Explain the__( last stanza of the poem.
Answer
The last stanza — "He stares with his brilliant eyes / At the brilliant stars" — is the most poignant. At night, when the visitors are gone and the zoo is silent, the tiger looks up at the stars. The repetition of "brilliant" creates a connection between the tiger's eyes and the stars — both are brilliant, both are distant, both are beautiful in their natural state. The stars represent freedom, the vast sky, the wild open world that the tiger should inhabit. His staring is an act of longing — he gazes at the only part of the natural world he can still see (the sky). It's also an act of dignity — he refuses to look at the visitors (his captors) but looks at the stars (nature). The stanza is deeply melancholic — a once-mighty predator, now reduced to gazing at stars through cage bars.