Barred Owl

Analysis on Richard Wilbur’s Poem: “A Barred Owl”
Richard Wilbur’s poem “A Barred Owl” consists of 2 stanzas each made up of 6 lines of about the same length and one sentence each. Each stanza consists of a rhyming pattern of AABBCC. In the first line the “B” in “boom” recalls the “B” in “brought”. The word “boom” is onomatopoeia. “Warping night” and “having brought” both have similar endings with the “ing” and the “ght” and this is a form of internal rhyme. There is also internal rhyme with “darkened”, “wakened” and “listened” in the second, third and fifth line. Internal rhyme makes the lines flow together. There are many words with “D” sounds in the first stanza such as “da”, “ed”, ld”, “rd”, and “odd”. There is a break in the 5th line accentuated by a comma which slows the rhythm of that line. There is personification of the owl when it is able to ask a question. The question “who cooks for you?” is onomatopoeia since it sounds like the hoot of an owl. In the third line, the “w” in “wakened” recalls the “w” in “we”. The words “tell” and “all” have the same ending but are introduced by different vowels. I also notice that the third and fourth lines both start with “w”. In the fourth line the “f” from “forest” recalls the “f” from “from”.
The first line in the second stanza has a break after “words” accentuated by a comma putting emphasis on the word “words” and slowing the rhythm of that sentence. In “bravely clear” there is a reversed letter pattern “el” and “le”, which makes the words flow together. The words “child”, “night”, “some” and “small” are repeated throughout this poem perhaps to emphasize these words. There may be a connection between “child” and “thing” since both words are preceded by the word “small”. In lines ten and eleven there is internal rhyming with the words “listening”, “dreaming” and “thing” which have the same “ing” ending. The author uses alliteration in “some” and “small” which draws the two words together. In the last line there is a reversed letter pattern in “dark branch” with the “ar” and “ra”, which makes the words flow together. The poem ends with the words “eaten raw” which is juxtaposition with the word “cook” in the last line of the first stanza. Overall the diction of this poem is informal with a steady pace. The language is simple and conversational allowing the poem to flow really well.
Part Two

Richard Wilbur’s poem “A Barred Owl” uses symbolism and imagery to represent the distinction between the cultivated world of society and the raw world of nature and suggests that society has power over nature. The owl symbolizes the world of nature, while the authority figure in the child’s life, whom I assume to be the mother, symbolizes the world of society.
Firstly, through the usage of contrasting image patterns, society is shown to function by manipulations or cover-ups while nature is shown to function without additional processes. This is shown by the two juxtaposed images of the mother cooking and the owl eating something raw. In the first stanza, the mother tries comforting her frightened child by manipulating the hoot of an owl to sound like the question “who cooks for you?” (6). This question would bring comfort to her child as it would allow the child to imagine the mother making a home cooked meal in the kitchen which is a calming image. The mother is concealing the reality of the situation from the child. She is “cooking” the situation in a sense because when people cook they dress up a meal with various ingredients and thus cover up its true nature and rawness. In contrast, in the second stanza we get to experience the reality of this situation which is that the prey of an owl is “borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw” (12). We can see that the owl or nature bites into its prey raw. Nature sees the world as it is without any other processes or imagined cover-ups unlike the dressed up or “cooked” world of society.
Secondly, the distinction between nature and society is further established in this poem when nature is shown to be terrifying and wild while society is shown to be cultivated and safe. Nature is shown to be petrifying through the usage of words like “stealthy flight”, “claw” and “eaten raw” (10-12), which evoke terrifying images. Nature is also unrestrained and violent. These characteristics of nature can be seen in the beginning of the poem which starts with the line “the warping night air having bought the boom” (1). Without reading ahead, this line brings the imagery of a violent storm. However, when one reads ahead we find out that it is “an owl’s voice into her darkened room” (2). This suggests that the “boom” of nature is strong and inescapable. In contrast, the societal world of human construction can make society safe from nature. This is shown in this poem through the usage of the word “domesticate” (8). The word “domesticate” comes from the root word demos meaning household. In this poem, the child’s fear is domesticated in a secure home by society. This domestication allows the child to block out nature from her mind and fall back asleep. Thus the cultivated world of society is safe from the wild, fearful world of nature because it has been domesticated.
Furthermore, the human construction of language has allowed society to have power over nature and freedom from it. In this poem we see that words have the power to allow a child to shut nature out completely. A direct reference about language is shown in the poem with the word “words” (7). This word is ambiguous because we don’t know exactly what words Wilbur is referring to. He could be referring to the words said in previous line, the hoot of the owl or just language in general. I believe that in this sentence, Wilbur is referring to the hoot of an owl which is nature that is evoking fear and making “our terrors bravely clear” (7). However, in the next sentence when Wilbur writes, “can also thus domesticate a fear” (8), we see that words have the power to train a fear to make it harmless. In this case, the comforting words the mother uses to cover up nature nurtures the child’s fear and sends “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” (9-12). This metaphor that compares a child to the prey of an owl shows that the child is able to shut nature out and free herself from the claws of nature. Thus, the cultivated speech of society has power and allows society to have control over nature.
In conclusion, referring back to the title of this poem which is “A Barred Owl” one can now see the significance of this title. Although a barred owl is a particular species of an owl, “barred owl” can also be referring to the restricted world of nature. This title is a good reflection of the poem because throughout the poem Wilbur shows nature being barred from the child’s mind by society. Through the usage of imagery and the symbols of the owl and the mother Wilbur shows that the owl or nature needs to be constrained from the child’s imagination since it is frightening, wild and raw. In contrast, the mother or society allows nature to be barred by being manipulative, disguised and in a secure home. The mother does this by using words that allow her to have dominance over nature which shows that society has power over nature.

Works Cited
Wilbur, Richard. “A Barred Owl.” Literature in English: Shorter Genres English 1A03. Ed. Jeffery Donaldson. Hamilton: Custom Publishing Solutions, Winter 2013. 59. Print.

Cited: Wilbur, Richard. “A Barred Owl.” Literature in English: Shorter Genres English 1A03. Ed. Jeffery Donaldson. Hamilton: Custom Publishing Solutions, Winter 2013. 59. Print.