How does the poet suggest that you identify the lion and the tiger? When can you do so, according to him?
The poet suggests identifying the Asian Lion by its large and tawny appearance. For the Bengal Tiger, he suggests identifying it by its black stripes on a yellow ground.
According to the poet, you can identify the lion only when it roars at you as you're dyin', meaning when it is attacking and killing you. Similarly, you can identify the tiger when you notice that it eats you.
Explanation
The answer is derived directly from the first two stanzas of the poem. The poet uses humorous and dangerous scenarios to describe wild animals. The lion is identified by its tawny color and roar during a fatal attack, while the tiger is recognized by its stripes and its act of eating the observer. The dark humour lies in the fact that these identification methods can only be used at the cost of one's life.