Poetry is a way of writing with an underlying message appealing to emotion of the reader. In normal writing, one would tolerate an idea and briefly scratch the surface of its message, whereas in poetry you have to decipher the message which makes the reader more likely to connect to the writing. In the two poems, “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, adults provide explanations to children that make life seem friendlier. Each of these poems contains different content, a unique structure, and using literary devices to demonstrate a similar theme of innocence. To start off with, the content of these poems reveal innocence by revolving around two entirely different events. In “The Barred Owl,” it is the idea of a child hearing an owl in the night and the parents comforting the child and implying that the owl is talking to them. How the …show more content…
parents describe it is; “Who cooks for you?’ and the ‘Who cooks for you?’, Words which can make our terrors bravely clear, Can also thus domesticate a fear,” (Wilbur 6-8). The parents trying to comfort their child when they are really hiding the gruesome fact that the owl is really snatching up a creature and devouring it with no mercy, attempting to protect their child from the realities of life. This is creating irony between the title and content as the parents are “barring” their child from the owl. However in “The History Teacher,” the teacher is taking events in history and blurring the tragedy of them to his students. “The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more than an outbreak of questions such as ‘How far is it from here to Madrid?’ What do you call the matador’s hat?” (Collins 7-10). The Spanish Inquisition was a torturing questioning to root out heretics, yet the teacher removes this information and changes it to simple questions that one would ask their neighbor so that he could protect his students. Both of these poems include morphing a bad event into an innocent misunderstanding and are described through different settings. As well as content, the structures the poems contain are unique but fit in a way to tie into the theme. In “A Barred Owl,” the rhyme scheme is AA, BB, CC, and etc. in an end rhyme. “The warping night air having brought the boom Of an owl’s voice in her darkened room,” (Wilbur 1-2). With poems being hard to read and interpret, children often begin being introduced to poems that rhyme and have couplets as they are fun and easy to read. The rhyming of this poem gives it a child-like feel as one reads through it along with the couplets giving it a steady rhythm, which is how one usually would think for a children’s poem adding to the idea of innocence in the poem. Although in “The History Teacher,” there is no rhyme scheme. The first four stanzas contain a pattern of four lines then a couplet and repeat. “Trying to protect his student’s innocence he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters. And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age, named after the long driveways of the time.” (Collins 1-6). In between each of these stanzas is a line that is used to separate different time periods to emphasize his sugarcoating and his quest for innocence. Next to structure are the different uses of literary devices. In “A Barred Owl,” the first line contains personification that introduces the idea of danger. “The warping night air having brought the boom” (Wilbur 1-2). The sound that the air had carried is later discovered that it is an owl’s hoot but is used into a metaphor when the parents insist that the owl is really asking the child a question. “Was an odd question from a forest bird,” (Wilbur 4). The sense of spook in the first few lines is turned down as the parents began to cover it with a white lie which is used to amplify the idea of innocence in the poem. In “The History Teacher,” the poem is full of exaggerations with how the teacher explains in his lessons. “And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age, named after the long driveways of the time.” (Collins 5-6). The Stone Age was obviously not about driveways yet the teacher trying to protect his students’ innocence, teaches them that. The last stanza contains symbolism and irony. The symbolism occurring as he obliviously walks past the children on the playground and the white picket fence with the flower beds, indicating that he believes in the perfect American dream and perfect life. “wondering if they would believe that soldiers in the Boer War told, long rambling stories designed to make the enemy nod off.” (Collins 19-21). Here there is irony as the teacher is the example as the soldier making stories and the reader can see in the second to last stanza the children being bad, indicating a relation to ‘the enemy,’ again indication the idea of innocence, but more so in the teacher. However different these two poems are from each other, they related in the idea of innocence.
Ignorance is bliss and it seems the older one gets, the more complicated life seems. As a kid, one would think of ‘I want to be a doctor,’ rather than ‘how do I become a doctor.’ Parents find this adorable and let the child dream on as they want the best for their children. In “A Barred Owl,” the parents want to keep their child at peace of mind. “Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.” (Wilbur 11-12). If she knew what the owl was really doing, she would be considered tainted to them as she would know bad exists. In “The History Teacher” the teacher does not want history to repeat itself, so he covers the raw facts of it all. Ironically, the children behave badly themselves as they do not know what is bad. “The Children would leave his classroom for the playground to torment the weak and the smart, mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,” (Collins 13-16). Both poems stress on keeping innocence yet how in the end it becomes a negative
effect. In conclusion, the similar themes in the poems make them relatable regardless of their difference in structure, content, and literary devices. No parent or adult wants to see a child unhappy so they protect them. But children are not as innocent as the adults dream considering even at a young age bullying occurs. From a young age to and older age parents coddle their kids whether it is fair playing time on a soccer team or becoming independent in college and stepping into the ‘real world.’ They think that they are helping but it is more so they are preparing them for disappointment as they have no emotional back-bone because they are not prepared for failure and mistakes. The History teacher was really the innocent one and he is symbolic of most parents and adults. Adults would not expect a sweet kid to throw rocks at another kid and so they ignore that possibility and do not teach them the wrongs of life. The idea of innocence gives “The History Teacher” a sarcastic tone and opens up the idea of parents hovering over their kids too much.
The ability of words to calm a child’s fears is shown in “A Barred Owl.” Additionally, the author conveys the idea that even though one may say everything is alright, what one makes up in one’s mind is often worse than reality. The rhyme scheme in “A Barred Owl” helps depict the simple and soothing tone of the poem. Not only the rhyme scheme but also the repetition of certain consonants and sounds such as, “the warping night air having brought the boom / of an owl’s voice into her darkened room” help emphasize Wilbur’s i...
The poems “A Barred Owl” and “The History Teacher” by Richard Wilbur and Billy Collins respectively, depict two different scenarios in which an adult deceives a child/children, which ranges from the sounds of a bird at night, to the history of the world itself. “A Barred Owl” depicts two parents who lie to their daughter about an owl who woke her in the night, while “The History Teacher” involves a man who tries to protect his students by using education as a tool to deceive them. Both poets use diction, imagery, and rhyme to help them convey a certain tone in their poems.
A great way to get children more involved and engaged in the classroom is by using poems as a guide towards a student’s learning. The two poems, “If a Bad Dream Comes” by Siv Cedering Fox and “Sunflakes” by Frank Asch, are excellent examples that are capable of doing just that. Through careful analysis of each of these poems possible themes, developmental lessons, structures, and morals; it will be apparent that these poems, as well as any others, can adequately contribute to directing students to the path of an enriched lesson to learn.
The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed... ... middle of paper ... ... y has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed. I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed.
Lewis could have used more elaborate words when describing the children’s state, but her description of the children as “laughing” and “wet” evokes a pleasant simplicity that is associated with childhood. The fact that the children come from playing in a river is an idyllic interaction heightens the poem’s connection to the natural world. The line that follows, “And all goes on as it should,” lends to the peaceful, idyllic tone in the poem. For the speaker, everything (“all”) is right in the
The two poems titled, “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins have a very distinct thing in common. The authors centered each text around adults protecting children’s innocence by hiding the real world problems and issues through interpreting them in ways that will ease their thoughts and imaginations (dreams). Richard Wilbur was able to interpret his piece through rhyme and focused on the preservation of children’s imagination. While Billy Collins elucidated the same theme, he represented his ideals through having the main character a teacher censors real world events when educating his students.
In Richard Wilbur’s A Barred Owl and Billy Collins’s The History Teacher, a central point of shielding young ones from the truth is given. The two poets show how careful and protective adults deal with the curiosity of children. Wilbur uses playful rhymes along with a non-serious tone in juxtaposition to a child’s irrational fear. Collins uses a manipulative diction to show euphemistic yet disadvantageous protection.
“Words, which can make our terrors clear/ Can also thus domesticate fear,” yet that domestication can also perpetuate naivety in the audience. What they hear is a censored story, a distortion of reality. Small fears sung in a whimsical tune of heroic couplets limit the scope of that fear and alleviate the distress of the listener. By limiting the perspective of such fears, however, the listener will never understand the portrayed fear, nor will they understand how to combat it in a healthy way. For example, the wakened child of Richard Wilbur’s “A Barred Owl” will never comprehend the grace and beauty of an owl because they were taught to suppress their fear, not confront it. The students of Billy Collins’ “The History Teacher” will never understand
In “A Barred Owl,” the “owl’s voice” symbolizes fear and lack of understanding that children have. The young girl was frightened by an everyday item, which shows that young kids can have irrational fears because they don’t understand the world. This helps convey the message because there are many things that kids don’t understand, and therefore they fear, which also brings a necessity for adults to comfort the kids and help them understand, even if this means telling them a few small, white lies. Collins also uses symbolism to make his point. The various lies that the history teacher tells his students, such as that “the Ice Age was really just/the Chilly Age, a period of a million years/when everyone had to wear sweaters,” symbolize a broader range of fabrications that many adults tell to kids, even when they should be telling the truth. The children in “The History Teacher” aren’t being taught about many of the dark, yet important, parts of history and therefore don’t learn how to treat one another with respect and kindness; they become ignorant people who spend their time at the playground tormenting one another. The lies and ignorance of the children symbolize that if adults keep deceiving kids on a variety of topics, society will become less understanding and more unaware of how to treat one another. Symbolism is used to both poems to describe different meanings. The general fear kids have is
The speaker in the poem uses images to help to support the theme. For example the statement that "sometimes the woman borrowed my grandmother's face" displays the inability of the children to relate the dilemma to themselves, something that the speaker has learned later on with time and experience. In this poem, the speaker is an old woman, and she places a high emphasis on the burden of years from which she speaks by saying "old woman, / or nearly so, myself." "I know now that woman / and painting and season are almost one / and all beyond saving by children." clearly states that the poem is not written for the amusement of children but somebody that has reached the speaker's age, thus supporting the idea of the theme that children cannot help or understand her or anybody of her age. In addition, when the speakers describes the kids in the classroom as "restless on hard chairs" and "caring little for picture or old age" we can picture them in our minds sitting, ready to leave the class as soon as possible, unwilling and unable to understand the ethics dilemma or what the speaker is feeling.
The use of these literary devices shows love and innocence of a boy transformed to the dark powers of the world. The poem as a whole wonderfully illustrates the idea by providing many examples of literary devices to reveal the stronger meaning of love. “Boy at the window” by Richard Wilbur gives a great understanding of that feeling and
... become a poet. I am not particularly keen on poetry, but I do like Whitman's poetry because it is so beautiful..The boy, the speaker, is transformed, and then translates his experiences in nature into a language the reader can understand. What is special about the boy, why he can become "The Poet" is the risks he takes. He's not only alone, which seems to be necessary in order to be a great Poet, but also "bareheaded, barefoot," to the natural elements. He braves both body and soul to the wind and the sea, the sand with its briers and cutting grasses. Both the poet and the bird "must be still, be still to listen," and wait for the mate, the muse, the poem, the aria to come.We see the formation of the poet and we see him discover his poetic power. Music, the aria, in particular is central to the poem. Poetry and music are combined.I would love to hear this poem aloud.
In the poetry of William Blake and William Wordsworth, this difference between children and adults and their respective states of mind is articulated and developed. As a person ages, they move undeniably from childhood to adulthood, and their mentality moves with them. On the backs of Blake and Wordsworth, the reader is taken along this journey.
The main objectives in chapter 8 of Through the Eyes of a Child by Donna E. Norton are rhythmic patterns of language and teaching with poetry. Under the first main objective the chapter coved value of poetry for children. Poetry playa very important role in educating children because they bring and learn new understanding of the world they live in. Children share feelings, experiences, and visions with others through poetry. Poetry has so many values, but I will only mention some to get the idea of the value of poetry in our world today. Poetry brings enjoyment to the children when they hear and share nonsense poems. For example, Mother Goose rhymes and tongue twisters, (Norton 311). Another value is that it educated children and teach
The idea of the child’s innocence is shown through their interactions with others and their descriptions in both of these writers’ poems. For example, in the introduction to “Songs of Innocence” the interaction between the child and the narrator depicts the amount of innocence he has for laughing and enjoying life up in a tree while telling the narrator to write about merry cheer and the Lamb. This example shows innocence because innocent children are usually the happiest for they do not know as many of the horrors of life yet. The child being in a tree relates to Wordsworth’s religious view of being one with nature and how children are delightful and free. Another example of childhood innocence, is in William Blake’s poem “Holy Thursday” he refers to the children as innocent looking and having clean faces. When the children are described as being clean or having something of the color white that usually means purity and innocence. Since Blake wrote many of his passages on religion, the color white also has to do with the purity of the soul and being free from sin. Another example of this would be in “The Chimney Sweeper” when the little boy lost his white hair, this refers to the child losing his innocence or