A Barred Owl Analysis PDF

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Summary

Analysis of barred ownll of what is happening to my self og...

Description

"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.

ANALYSIS:

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Today, I will be reciting and analyzing the poem "A Barred Owl" by Richard Wilbur.

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This very short poem by Richard Wilbur, shows a situation.....

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The purpose of this is clear, it suggests that the use of words can either illustrate that fear or control it. Comforting and Consoling to the child. If wasn't said, the child would have kept awake at night

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Tone changes throughout the poem. Dark and Terrifying -> Soothing -> Dark again.

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Poem written in two stanzas, each consisting of 6 lines. Rhyme scheme of AABBCC for each stanza. Enjambment establishes a fast rhythm. Break from first to second stanza indicates a shift in tone.

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Language is incredibly simple. Upon first reading, no hard words or phrases were used. This poem has a child-like feeling, so tat must be why the diction is pretty simple, and it has a nursery rhyme scheme that is more proper for children.

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Title can be literal and symbolic. Species of owl or owl that is barred from her.

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Consonance of "warping night" and "having brought".

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Onomatopoeia of "Boom". To us, the boom sound is definitely exaggerated, but for the girl, this sound can mean everything to her, especially that she knows so little about the nature and the world, even where it came from, and who created it. In the

girl's mind, the sound of "boom" is the most suiting representation because she has never heard of the threatening sound. 

Visual and auditory imagery. The warping night air, the sound of an owl and the darkened room, puts readers in the same situation and setting, which is terrifying. So readers can sympathize and empathize the fear the girl suffered.

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Personification of the bird. Her parents add a human-like ability into the bird so that the child would be less afraid. With this human-like ability that can both talk and asks question, the child can tolerate this more rather than just to the sound of the owl's hoot.

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Owl is a great symbolization used by the poet of the inconsistency of fear. For instance, from the surface, owls, they look harmless, friendly, and to some people, they are even adorable, unless when you heard its call at night, it proves how eerie it is. Consequently, it is the perfect representation of the inconsistency of fear.

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"We" can be symbolized as the society. Not that the whole society is comforting the child at her bed, but rather that consoling others in the terrified state is what we, the society, is and should be trained to do.

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In the sixth line, you can see the repetition of "Who cooks for you?". After I did some research, I found out that the barred owl actually makes two hoots, and the poet probably already knows this too because he has been living in the same area as the barred owl in Northern America. So it is not just placed there carelessly, because since the child heard two hoots, it'd be better to have two questions too.

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Another visual and auditory imagery in the tenth to twelfth line. The sound of stealthy flight, in a claw, and to some dark branch. This doesn't refer to humans, instead it is to prey. The owl's prey has to constantly keep an eye from these owls by listening to the sound of their flight, to not end up getting in its claws, and later carried to a dark branch and eaten.

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In the second stanza, alliteration is used. Notice that there are a lot of words starting with the letter "s" such as small, sleep, sound, stealthy, and some. The repetition of the sound "s" sound like the silence, and "shhh", so that the end deals with hushing up the truths that may have change the child's minds.

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In conclusion, the poet has successfully delivered and conveyed its message with the poem "A Barred Owl" by the effective use of imagery, symbolism, literary devices, structure, and language....