Compare And Contrast A Barred Owl And The History Teacher

In “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur, and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, both of the poets attempt to sugar-coat the truth to children in their poems by using the ignorance of the children to their advantage. In “A Barred Owl,” Parents tell their child that the noises it hears at night is just the owl talking to it, when, in reality, the noises are the owl snatching up a small animal to eat. Similarly, to protect the children’s innocence in “The History Teacher,” the history teacher embellishes major events to make them seem not nearly as bad as they were. In both of these poems, the parents and the teacher both think they are doing right by the children by portraying innocent explanations to protect them from the harsh realities