ap sample prompt

In ÒThe History TeacherÓ by Billy Collins and ÒA Barred OwlÓ by
> Richard Wilbur, scenes which Adults explain situations to children are
> described. In both of the poems, the adults describe either past
> historical events or contemporary happenings in such a way as to
> prevent children from seeing the full extent of harsh reality. Both
> Poems either state explicitly or infer that the adultsÕ goal is to
> protect the children from the entire truth. Yet, in the first poem,
> by Wilbur, the adults seek only to calm a child by assuring her fears
> Ð which are somewhat plausible Ð are not plausible. However, in the
> second poem, by Collins, the adult actively lies to the children about
> events that would no longer affect them and of which they have no
> apparent fear. The adult in this second poem is much less effective
> in accomplishing his goal, and the poet uses literary devices to show
> this; whereas in the first poem the adults accomplish exactly what
> they set out to, and the poet also uses literary devices to
> demonstrate this. Thus, while both poems describe a similar
> situation, the two poets use different literary devices to accentuate
> the difference in adultsÕ approaches to and the outcomes of the two
> situations.
> In ÒA Barred Owl,Ó Wilbur sets up a situation in which the child
> has a reason to be fearful. Through diction such as ÒboomÓ Òwarping
> night airÓ and ÒdarkenedÓ Wilbur evokes the image of a scene that
> would be terrifying for any Òsmall child.Ó He thus convinces the
> reader that it is necessary for the adults to do something to quell
> the childÕs fear. By using the first-person voice, Wilbur directly
> involves the reader in the situation, eliciting feelings of sympathy
> for the child and obligation to do something. Thus, the reader is
> able to directly empathize with the adults in the poem because he is
> one of them. Wilbur also uses rhyme scheme throughout the poemÕs
> entirety,