"The Jaguar" is about a trip Hughes took to the zoo. In the poem he describes the zoo animals and their behavior. Compare the monkeys, parrots, tiger, lion and boa constrictor to the jaguar, which is an animal that lives differently from others in the way it views its life. The poem begins by describing the monkeys as "yawning" and "worshipping their fleas", and the fact that they are in the sun contributes to the sleepy air. I think this line was deliberately chosen to convey the monotonous pause of daily life in the zoo and create a sleepy atmosphere. The second line has a rather different tone; tells of parrots 'screaming as if they were on fire'. Parrots scream, so this is literal, but it gives a connotation of pain or perhaps boredom. Furthermore, they strut around like cheap whores so that zoo visitors can feed them, which indicates that they are losing their dignity due to food. The third line talks about the tiger and the lion, who are apparently "weary with sloth." Again, suggesting the tone of drowsiness and perhaps boredom, and the idleness of the animals. The animals are tired and in the wild they would probably be more likely to hunt rather than lounge around in the middle of the day. The second stanza repeats the same monotonous stillness of the animals again, this time a boa constrictor. The word "sun" is used again, so the warm, sleepy image returns, as do the animals. The following lines describe the boa constrictor having a spiral in its tail, which supposedly "is a fossil". The end of the second line of stanza two is: "cage after cage seems empty" which indicates the monotonous appearance of the cages, which contain very little activity as all the animals inside them barely move. Basically, the animals are boring and not a very spicy sight for visitors. The next line uses the alliteration "sleepers' stink" which doesn't actually mean that sleepers literally stink, just that there is a strong "smell" of sleepiness in the air, as if there is no activity affecting the sleepers. visitors. Some of the same sleeping animals are hidden under the straw, so the author uses another metaphor and suggests that the straw breathes. These animals, which in the wild could be menacing and very dangerous, do not act according to their usual instincts and instead choose to lie in a sort of stupor that makes them appear harmless, approachable and generally unnatural..