A Tiger in the Zoo
Class 10 English · First Flight – Poems · Chapter 3
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CBSE Class 10 · English
First Flight: what 34 board papers asked- Marks booster + cheatsheet: key concepts in 2 lines each, common traps
- 9 prose pieces, each summarised
- 10 poems with their poetic devices
- Common traps to avoid
- Long-answer pairs the board has set
- 10 marks each: grammar and writing formats
CBSE Class 10 · English
105 board questions, counted story by story- Marks booster + cheatsheet: key concepts in 2 lines each, common traps
- 9 stories: plot, characters, themes
- Character-sketch frames
- Common traps to avoid
- Diary-entry and long-answer frames
- Values in all 9 stories
CBSE Class 10 · English
Both English readers: what the board asked- 34 board papers counted for First Flight
- 105 board questions on Footprints, by story
- 9 prose pieces and 10 poems summarised
- 9 Footprints stories: plot, characters, themes
- 10 + 10 marks: Section B grammar and writing
- Traps + 12-question test in both kits
CBSE Class 10 · All available subjectsTrending
All 12 Class 10 kits: where board marks sit- Maths: 20 marks in Algebra, the biggest unit
- Science: 25 marks each in Units I and II
- English: what 34 board papers asked
- Geography: all 79 CBSE map items, by location
- Economics: all 20 marks, with 18 traps
- 12 kits, one per subject or book
The story in short
Leslie Norris’s poem contrasts a tiger’s helpless, frustrated life in a zoo cage with the wild freedom it would enjoy in its natural habitat. In the cage the tiger paces silently in a few quiet steps, full of suppressed rage, ignoring the visitors who come to stare. The poet imagines how, if it were free, the tiger would lurk in the shadows near a water hole to hunt deer, or terrorise the village by snarling at its edge. Instead it is locked behind concrete bars, hearing the patrolling cars at night and staring at the brilliant stars with longing. The poem highlights the cruelty of confining wild animals and the loss of their natural freedom, contrasting the dignity of the tiger in the wild with its helpless misery in captivity. It awakens sympathy and the value of freedom.
The story in 5 beats
- 1The tiger walks in his small cage on velvet soft paws, angry but silent.
- 2He should be hiding near long grass and water, waiting to catch deer.
- 3He should be snarling around village houses and frightening people at the jungle edge.
- 4Instead, he stays locked in a concrete cell and ignores the visitors.
- 5At night he hears patrolling cars and looks sadly at the shining stars.