"A Barred Owl"
By Richard Wilbur
The warping night air having brought the boom
Of an owl’s voice into her darkened room,
We tell the wakened child that all she heard
Was an odd question from a forest bird,
Asking of us, if rightly listened to,
“Who cooks for you?” and then “Who cooks for you?”
Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.
Richard Wilbur, "A Barred Owl" from Mayflies: New Poems and Translations. Copyright © 2000 by Richard Wilbur.
"The History Teacher"
By Billy Collins
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.
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?”
than an outbreak of questions such as
“How far is it from here to Madrid?”
“What do you call the matador’s hat?”
The War of the Roses took place in a garden,
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom
on Japan.
The children would leave his classroom
for the playground and torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,
while he gathered his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.
“The History Teacher” from Questions About Angels Copyright ©1991 by Billy Collins
The children would leave his classroom
for the playground and torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,
while he gathered his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.
“The History Teacher” from Questions About Angels Copyright ©1991 by Billy Collins
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDeleteMy first gut reactions two both poems was that both poems were trying to keep kids from the real truth because they would think the truth would scare them. The parents and teachers don’t want the kids to think about the bad things in life until the kids get older because the kids might think about the bad more than the good. The adults want the kids to enjoy their childhood and not to worry about the bad things until later and have the adults worry about the bad things in life. Personally we shouldn’t hide the bad things in life from kids for to long. Kids need to know what could happen to them if they make a bad choice.
Ben Worthley
DeleteI like how you compared both poems
Abhi Sharma
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to these two poems was that both of these poems were keeping the truths from children because they want to keep the children in the light instead of the dark, and they might think that the kids might get scared after knowing the truth or they might do bad deeds after knowing the truth. Teachers and parents don’t want kids to do bad deeds after hearing the truth and if they do bad deeds now and doesn’t get told the truth immediately and know the consequences of doing bad deeds then he/she might or never come back from doing bad deeds. Parents wants their child to have a happy childhood but when they are adults it might be hard to convince about bad deeds. Kids need to know the truth otherwise they might do bad deeds that they didn’t even know about.
ReplyDeleteJulia Campbell
When I read these passages I originally thought that the adults are trying to alter the children's perspective to make things less worrisome. In the poem by Richard Wilbur, there is a rhyming format the makes the poem more appealing when read, especially compared to “the history teacher” by Billy Collins. Both these poems portray how influential adults are towards kids; I believe that the adults in this poem are pushing what they would've wanted to hear during their childhood onto these children. The poem by Wilbur needs to be analyzed slightly before it's completely understood, while the poem by Collins is clear and simple.
Peyton Levental
ReplyDeleteIn "A Barred Owl" by Richard Wilbur, we know that there is a small girl that gets woken up in the middle of the night in fear of a noise, "We tell the wakened child that all she heard," she hears the "who" of a barn owl. When her parents walk, in they try to comfort her by saying the noise is only asking, "Who cooks for you?” Even though the parents told a lie, this is the only thing that did comfort the girl and made her feel better to fall back asleep. This is a poem with two stanzas both with six lines in each. When they say, "stealthy flight" this gives us this imagery of the creature in the night.
I think that these two poems have a lot in common because the main point of both is how they lie to kids. They both do this so that they wouldn't know about any of the real bad times that really did happen. I feel as is the parents are trying to keep the kids mind clear of any sort of violence and is corrupting their thoughts.
Julia Campbell
DeleteI like your concluding sentence, it really describes the two poems accurately.
Sean Wilen
ReplyDeleteI read the first poem my gut reaction was I was scared almost for the girl cause she was haunted by the owl and the mom and dad are doing nothing
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction to the two pieces after re-reading them both was that they share a common theme- the protection of children’s innocence through lies, small (as in Richard Wilbur’s “A Barred Owl”) or large (as in Billy Collins’ “The History Teacher”). In the first poem, “A Barred Owl”, a small girl wakes up in the middle of the night to hear an owl, causing her to be afraid and run to her parents, who tell her that the owl was simply asking, “Who cooks for you?”, before sending her back to bed with her fear relieved by a little white lie. In this poem, Richard Wilbur utilizes an “aabbcc eeffgg” rhyme scheme and writes in iambic pentameter, which could be a soothing, rhythmic beat to the poem to mimic the soothing of the parents to their daughter. In “The History Teacher”, I almost immediately noticed that the lies being told are each much larger than the one told in “A Barred Owl”. The poem is about a history teacher who tells his students about historical events as if he were a parent trying to make all the grim and horrible things about history seem not as bad, almost like what a small, innocent child would assume about the event just from hearing its name. It utilizes no rhyme scheme and is not written in iambic pentameter, as the poem clearly attempts to make its theme of lying to protect innocence much more apparent than “A Barred Owl”. Imagery is used heavily in the final stanza of the poem, as the history teacher walks home past “flower beds and white picket fences”, two things commonly associated with perfect, almost utopian neighborhoods, symbolizing the all-around lack of negativity in the world about which the history teacher teaches his students. What’s more, he does this while his students run around, tormenting the smart with their lack of knowledge and obliviousness to the real world, “mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses”, utilizing the stereotype of the smart kids in school being glasses-wearing perfectionists that fret if one perfect little hair is out of place.
I liked how you analyzed the first poem and put forth the format being used in the previous poem crystallizing the fact how iambic pentameter is the main method.
DeleteShah behesty
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction to each of the segment of poems was how both are conceptualized in the same alignment while being indirectly parallel to each other. In “Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur, we can downright comprehend the gist of the poem in subtext of how the girl was quite frightened by the willy creature that made her discomfited in her darkened room but anyhow the parents comforted the girl by telling a lie in order for her to go back to the sleeping state, this indicates how protective are the parents towards their child by keeping them away from the inferiority and wicked side of the society or mankind. In contrary, “The history Teacher” by Billy Collins , It has been quite manifested that the teacher is making the uncomfortable topic at a balanced length for the children to understand both the evil and ethical versions, to be specific he wants to keep the young’s innocence alive by giving it a touch of perfect sense of humor and foreshadowing the question as to how adults or conservator portrays reality to a child. However, children being delved into finer side of the mankind are apparently rare to the uncomfortable side of the world, one day they must come in terms with this reality of this world. I think both of the poem has to offer mature response to the bad and good of the world by the guardian of each child where they kept the innocence alive while metaphorically presenting a slight hint of the corrupted world. However, “the history teacher” is quite translucent to the harshness comparing “A barred owl” because it has been highly personified in terms of parental characters.
Evan Brenner
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction to "A Barred Owl" was that some parents are afraid to tell their kids about the real world and hide it from them. The poem is about how an Owl was making noise and a kid was trying to fall asleep. The tone of this poem is sad because the parents are lying to the kid. One poetic element is a personification. The author gives the owl human like characteristics. The author wants you to know that everything you heard as a kid may not of always been true. My first gut reaction to "The History Teacher" was that it was easier to understand than the first poem. I didn’t really understand why the teacher was lying about the Ice Age because it is a important event that you shouldn’t lie about. One poetic element used is Allusion. It does not have a specific rhyme scheme. The history teacher is referring to past events in history. Both of these poems talk about how teachers/ adults hide things for children that are scary.
My reaction to these two poems was that the plot of these poems were keeping the truth away from children because they want to keep the children safe and not to worry about stuff, and they might think that the kids might get scared after knowing the truth or they might go scaring other kids if they find out the truth instead of the lies that parents tell to us. Parents wants their child to have a happy childhood. Kids need to know the truth or they might do bad things that they didn’t even know about.
ReplyDeletejames kiladis
Frankie Huntress
ReplyDeletemy reaction to these two poems were that protecting children from the world can be good but it can be bad and at some point they have to grow up.
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDeleteBoth poems are very interesting and definitely take a couple reads to understand. They are both about saving the innocence of kids in the poems. The first author uses rhyming to connect the sentences to each other and makes it a bit easier to read. As in the second poem, there is no rhyming. Although they have different writing styles they are able to capture the same meaning. Both parents lied to their kids to save them from nightmares it seems, especially in “A Barred Owl”. The parents don’t tell the kid it is an owl they make up a sentence so their child wouldn’t be scared. As in the second poem, I think the lying is more serious there because it is a teacher telling students the wrong things and something different then what everyone else at that school is learning.
Lucy 1/14/19
ReplyDeleteThe two poems were about protecting innocence and persevering future fears in children. This can have both positive and negative affects, the child in the first poem could end up thinking the owl is a nice creature and exposing herself to getting hurt, and the children in the class room will repeat history if not told how it played out.
Julia Campbell
DeleteI agree with your statement, Its quite inappropriate that the teacher would be trying to protect the students at this age especially since it could impact them in the future
Mitch Keamy
ReplyDeleteMy gut to 'A Barred Owl' was that the poem was lighthearted and the dad was simply fibbing to his daughter so she would sleep. My gut reaction to 'The History Teacher' however, was that the teacher is doing something wrong. it was his job to educate the students about the past and without knowledge of the past students will be screwed not only in life but in future history classes.
Rene Roustand
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction to, "A Barred Owl" was that some parents are afraid to tell their child the truth about the real world. A child is trying to sleep, but awakes to hear an owl hooting. The child runs to her parents about the noise she heard, and her parents exaggerate by saying the owl is saying, "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?" when really it's hooting, "Hoo, Hoo!"
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteI agree with most of what you said, but I find it interesting that you chose to use the word "exaggeration" when describing the parents' lie to their child in the first poem. Also, I am curious to know what you thought of the second poem.
Davis Blanch
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to the poem "A Barred Owl" was that the parent did not want to have their kid worry about an owl that was perched outside her window. The parent wanted to have their kid think that the owl was just asking her a question instead of looking for food. My initial reaction to "The History Teacher" was that the teacher wanted to preserve his student's innocence by lying to them to make very violent events in history sound not so violent. Both poems have adults wanting to preserve the younger people's innocence and not wanting them to know what the real world is like.