Similarities Between A Barred Owl And The History Teacher

Gwen Harwood, an Australian poet, explores the ideas of loss of innocence and guilt in two of her poems ‘Barn Owl’ and ‘Spelling Prize’. By creating use of symbolic imagery, Harwood shows the struggles of her persona’s as they navigate through childhood and face the consequences of their actions. Harwood represents the struggle of the different persona’s to overcome imperfection in each of the poems. In the poem ‘Barn Owl’ written by Gwen Harwood portrays a young person sneaking out in the early morning with their fathers gun to kill an owl in the family stables.

The motif of birds is symbolic throughout the film, however, I focused their presence within the parlour scene to reflect Norman’s personality as both himself and Mother. To illustrate Mother gradually becoming the dominate half of Norman’s mind, I expressed my idea through the symbolism of large taxidermy birds. These predators such as the menacing swooping owl and the astute raven, are representative of Mother as she merely emerges when the balance in Norman’s mind is threatened. In this scene, I often surround Marion with small, weak birds in which are passive, and by doing so I foreshadow that she will be a victim of Mother’s predatory nature. I correspondingly use Norman’s posturing and position to reveal which half of Norman’s mind is

The poem “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins, is about a teacher explaining to her students how to read and analyze poetry. Collins employs an abundance of figurative language, especially metaphors and images, to express the progressive steps taken to understand a poem for all that it encompasses. When beginning to read a poem, first we must look at the bigger picture, like we are working from the outside of the poem to the inside. Once we begin to understand the storyline, we must dive further into the poem, and analyze the types of words being used.. We further investigate by putting ourselves in the poem. Then, after having looked at the poem from the inside, we must reread it to realign with the big picture. By using metaphors, imagery, and syntax, Collins demonstrates how to analyze a poem. In an “Introduction to Poetry,” the teacher instructs the students to interpret the poem through close reading, showing them how to draw conclusions about the main idea. However, the poem is too complex and too difficult for the students to comprehend reading.

She never liked the quarrels and it made her uneasy. So, she wrote. She wrote in a journal that Gus had given her and writing about an owl that finally flew free after being trapped.

Billy Collins uses dark rooms, oceans, hives, color slides and mouse mazes to describe his poem “Introduction to Poetry”, but also a way to analyze poetry in general. Growing up, students are advised by teachers how to analyze poetry. The speaker of Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins, attempts to guide the readers by teaching them a unique and appropriate way to analyze poetry. The use of personification and imagery, by the author, gives the readers a new perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to listen to the teachers of the reader’s past, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a

The History teacher, in an attempt to protect the innocence of his students, and protect them from the harsh realities of life. He tells the students a very fabled and watered down version of history. Beginning of line 2 and ending in line 13, the speaker informs us what the history teacher has been telling the children. For example, “he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters (Collins, line 2-4)”. Instead of telling the kids about, how about a period of colder global temperatures and recurring glacial expansion capable of lasting hundreds of millions of years, he explained at a time when people had to wear sweaters all the time. He does not even attempt to tell the kids about the difficulties that humans has faced, terrors that they conquered or caused, the history teachers just tells fables that holds no darkness and knows no truth.

rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl away off, who-whooing about

In the poems “the history teacher” by billy collins and ”a barred owl” by richard wilbur, adults attempt to protect the innocence of children through well-intentioned lies, yet it only causes more problems by clouding the judgement of the children. In “a barred owl” the little girl is scared awake by a owls hoot. She is lied to saying that the owl is only asking “who cooks for you?” this covers up the gruesome eating habits of the owl so she can sleep more soundly, unaware of the real danger it possesses. Similarly in “the history teacher” a teacher lies to his students to make history seem less gruesome and scary, yet this only causes the uneducated children to bully the children who really know what happened. Through the use of literary devices they show how the lies we tell to our kids to protect their purity can really damage them or even put them into harm's way.

Therefore the poetic devices used are the only common ground the poets have. In schools Billy Collins presents the idea that the students are categorized by their grades. For example the a students hanging out with

This quotation shows the significance of the bird and how it directly correlates to the murder of Mr. Wright. Mr. Wright felt compelled to murder the one thing that his wife loved, showing how inferior women are to their

The poem suddenly becomes much darker in the last stanza and a Billy Collins explains how teachers, students or general readers of poetry ‘torture’ a poem by being what he believes is cruelly analytical. He says, “all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it”. Here, the poem is being personified yet again and this brings about an almost human connection between the reader and the poem. This use of personification is effective as it makes the

This poem follows a rhyme scheme of a, b, c, b, d, e, f, e in each stanza as the lines progress. Overall, the sentences of the poem are relatively simple and require no reading between the lines. Every line in the poem is meant to be taken literally and has only one layer of meaning, supporting the earlier statement of the poem being an overall simple read. The only repetition Hood uses throughout the poem is the titled phrase, being “I Remember, I Remember”, which appears at the beginning of each stanza. He does this when he is about to begin remembering a time when he was a little boy and to emphasize the remembrance of this time as a child along with his young innocence. (Huhn 201) (“It was a childish ignorance…when I was a boy”) With the exception of one stanza of two sentences, the poem is composed of four single-sentence stanzas that have eight lines each. Within each stanza, Hood places a snapshot of his childhood to contrast with a thought from his now mature adulthood and adult mind. (Huhn 201). Along with the rhyme scheme, the sentence pattern does not fluctuate at all throughout the poem and remains constant. The rhyme scheme of the poem aids in the flow of the piece as it is easier to read, not on a depth or understanding level, but more on a level of

Richard Wilbur beckons the child to replace fear with curiosity and imagination when he says, “Asking us if rightly listened to, “Who cooks for you? And then who cooks for you?” (Lines 5-6). And he also explains his theory using the connotative meaning of the word “domesticate.” He says, “Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear, can also domesticate a fear” (Lines 7- 8). When you hear the word domesticate or domesticated, one instantly associates the comfort of home or even taming something wild, as in fear. The ending lines of the poem are, “Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw, borne up to some dark branch eaten and raw” (Lines 11-12) While using rhyming words throughout the entire poem; the conclusion is most heard when reading it out loud. Conceivably symbolizing the basic meaning of the poem, the poet explains that a small child’s fears do not belong in their head; one of the greatest joys of being a child is that the child is protected. A child trusts with every inch of their being. Richard Wilbur’s theory comes out of innocence in itself. He brings up questions in the reader’s mind such as; why not take advantage of the gullibility if it is for true and good-natured reasons? Every parent or person that cares for a child wants to shield them from worries. In “A Barred Owl,” a reader sees the delicate and extremely personal responsibility of a child needing their mentor

Overall, the objective moral truth to be learned has been unaltered: “children, especially young girls…are wrong to listen to anyone” (13). This ‘don’t talk to strangers’ policy is the cornerstone of Perrault’s tale, which recalls Little Red Riding Hood as an innocent but foolish young girl. She takes some cakes to her ill grandmother, coming upon a wolf while making her way through the woods. The wolf, although hungry, chooses not to eat her yet, and instead gets the young girl to tell him where she is headed. The girl, unsuspecting, tells the wolf that she in headed to the house of her sick grandmother. The wolf then beats the girl to the destination by using a shortcut, eats the grandmother, and then eats Little Red Riding Hood when she arrives (11-13). For children, the prospects of being eaten alive serve as an effective deterrent from talking to strangers.

The ways of Owl, Rabbit, and Eeyore are constantly criticized through the novel, yet their attainable conduct complements the average, fast paced lifestyle. The character of Owl is portrayed as the stereotypical intellectual , as Owl values knowledge “for the sake of Knowledge” . Just as teachers, doctors, and engineers hold positions of esteem because of their intellect, Owl’s erudition provides him a position of respect within the Winnie the Pooh society. Rabbit shares many of Owl’s scholarly views and ideals, yet Rabbit also exhibits the trait of adaptability. His innovative approach to life primes him for his future endeavors. By “[taking] a thousand stitches to-day to save nine tomorrow” , Rabbit allows himself to advance beyond Pooh’s suspension of disbelief. Similarly, I believe in preparation over