Life Isn’t Perfect. But This Poem Might Be.

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” by Adrienne Rich, is a blazing portrait of an artist and her work. Our critic A.O. Scott admires its craft — and its wildness.

Isabella Cotier

By A.O. Scott

March 20, 2025

Poems don’t have to be perfect, but this one pretty much is. I mean that less as praise — though it is a long-time favorite — than as a technical description. Not many modern verses are so finely wrought, so ruthlessly precise in every facet of meaning and music.

Aunt   Jennifer’s   Tigers   by   Adrienne   Rich  

Aunt   Jennifer’s   tigers   prance   across   a   screen ,  

Bright   topaz   denizens   of   a   world   of   green .  

They   do   not   fear   the   men   beneath   the   tree ;  

They   pace   in   sleek   chivalric   certainty .  

Aunt   Jennifer’s   fingers   fluttering   through   her   wool  

Find   even   the   ivory   needle   hard   to   pull .