In “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins, the authors both argue that innocence is necessary to cultivate the ideal child via their protective tones, deceptive plot, and contrasting rhyme schemes. In both Wilbur's and Collins’ poems, they convey a protective tone to maintain the idea that children must remain pure. In “A Barred Owl”, Wilbur talks of lying to the child that the owl was asking “Who cooks for you?” rather than a scary animal call. The protective
Both A Barred Owl as well as The History Teacher both dive into the topics of children and their lives. One poem focuses more on the innocence and unknown of a child’s mind, the other focus on the more mature and adolescent child/teenager. One poem takes a loving and comforting approach while the other shows what happens when no one is watching. Each poem is quite unique while at the same time providing you with a story that keeps it interesting to the reader. One piece that stays constant throughout
stories. In “A Barred Owl” and “The History Teacher,” the poets present the idea that adults always attempt to shield their children from the danger of the outside world. The former speaker employs onomatopia to facilitate children to overcome fear, and the latter euphemizes the cruelty of warfare. However, while the former adopts a playful tone and style to “domesticate fear” (Wilbur 8), the latter aims to “protect… innocence” in a sarcastic tone (Collins 1), resulting
In the poems “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins, each poet illustrates adults who are providing explanations for children to protect them from the harsher realities of life. In “A Barred Owl”, Wilbur conveys his point that children should be shielded from these harsh realities, through the use of personification and understatements. However, in “The History Teacher”, Collins conveys his point that protecting the students’ innocence is a lost cause, through
Poetry Analysis Protecting the innocence instilled in children has been questioned throughout history. Some might believe it is within their rights to shelter children from the gruesome parts of the world in a loving manner, while others might believe it is their job to prepare children for what scary realities lie ahead. This is a subject argued about by many parents, teachers, and guardians. If one were to shelter their children too much, the child would grow up to misunderstand how to survive
AP Literature Poetry Essay Prompts (1970–2011) 1970 Poem: “Elegy for Jane” (Theodore Roethke) Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe the speaker's attitude toward his former student, Jane. 1971 Poem: “The Unknown Citizen” (W.H. Auden) Prompt: In a brief essay, identify at least two of the implications implicit in the society reflected in the poem. Support your statements by specific references to the poem. 1972 NO POEM 1973 (exam not available) 1974 Poem: “I wonder whether one expects