In the poems by Rosemary Dobson it generally presents the view of life as bleak. "The Tiger" is an example of this. This also reinforces the limitations on her poetic inspirations. The idea is presented by the effective use of imagery, tone, sound devices and the temporary progression. However, the poem by no means is uninteresting due to the use of these techniques.

Imagery is used by the poet to express her poetic concern. The poem "The Tiger" is completely an extended metaphor. As the central metaphor, the tiger symbolizes the poet's creativity and potential. However, such an image is expressed in a restricted way as the tiger is "behind the black bars of the page" which represents the poet's poetic inspirations that is also trapped under the fixed attitudes of society. Aside from the central image, the poet also uses a range of other images to enhance...