#9

Question 1 poetry

Two poems presented were A Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur and The History Teacher by Billy Collins. Both of these poems have many similarities and differences. Most notably of these are they both explore the children mind, but in doing this one makes excuses while the other explains why this happens.

Both of the poems are from an adult’s point of view analyzing the child mind and how if a child is told fake reasoning for adult situations then there is no harm in that. For example when Wilbur writes “we tell the wakened child that all she heard was an odd question from a forest bird” (lines 3 and 4) he is saying that if excuses are made for any argument in the family to the child then it is alright and no one can complain. When Collins writes “[the teacher told the students that] the soldiers in the Boer War told long rambling stories designed to make the enemy nod off” (lines 20 to 21) he is saying that if a child cant grasp the concept of something it as alright to tell the child false information just so the child doesn’t have to think too hard. Both of these authors are saying it is alright to lie to children about facts of life because they wouldn’t understand anyway.

Some differences explored in both of these poems are the exact reasoning behind why one should lie to a child. Wilbur writes that one should lie to a child because it alleviates fear. If a child was told the truth about its parents fights the child would live in fear about another fight and would sit awake at night listening to those words. Collins writes that if one lies to a child it should be done to explain items that would not make sense to their weak minds. A teacher can make light of the situations adults face such as atomic bombs and wars so therefore the child would be better prepared to face the facts when they are actually placed in front of them.

Both of these poems posses one more difference not explained earlier, their use of literary devices. Richard Wilbur uses an animal namely an owl to cause an excuse for adult fights. He also uses extensive imagery as in “Of an Owl’s voice into her darkened room” (line 2). Billy Collins does not use many literary devices instead he makes light of the situations seen in history.

Both of these poems use lying to a child as a basis for their work. Although the exact reasoning behind each of these is different in the poems. As one last point to enhance the message of the poems literary devices are used.