"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.

NEWW:

"A Barred Owl" is a very short poem by Richard Wilbur, that shows a situation where a child
is awakened by the sound of an owl, but later on her parents told her that it is not something
to be terrified of by having the owl asking a childish question. Then, the child goes back to
sleep knowing that it was just a friendly animal.

This poem appears to have a purpose; in which it suggests that words can either illustrate that
fear or control it. The poem begins with a child being frightened by the voice of an owl
during the night. To get rid of the fear in the child's mind, her parents told her that its voice
isn't intending to scare her, instead it was innocently asking "Who cooks for you?". For the
child, this is very comforting and relieving. However, if this was not said, the child would
have kept awake during the night. So the poem shows the importance and power of words.

The tone changes throughout the poem. In the beginning of the first stanza, the tone appears
to be dark and terrifying as the child hear a noise from outside, however when her parents
calmed her down, it turns into a soothing tone, until it turns back into a frightening tone
towards the end of second stanza as the poet describes the owl as a vicious killer.

"A Barred Owl" is written in two stanzas, each consisting of 6 lines. Each stanza has a rhyme
scheme of AABBCC. It is organized neatly that almost all the lines are proportional to each
other. The whole poem is an enjambment, there are no breaks or pauses, it allows the idea to
continue beyond a single line. Therefore, it establishes a fast pace and rythm. The break from
the first to the second stanza indicates a shift in tone, it goes from comforting to mysterious.

The language is incredibly simple. Upon the first reading, it can be seen that no complicated
words or phrases are used.

The title of the poem "A Barred Owl" is both literal and symbolic. It can be the species of
owl in the Northern America, or it can also mean an owl that is barred from the child's room
and the child's mind and consciousness.

What I notice in the first line is that there are words with similar endings. For example,
"warping night" and "having brought", both of them have similar endings, with -ing and -ght,
they are called consonance. Another literary device that can be seen in the first line is
onomatoepia. "Boom" resembles the sound that girl heard at night, that probably terrified
awakened her. There's also personification, in which the night air, is bringing the "boom" into
the room. The bird is also is also personified in the 6th line, where it has human-like abilities
that can both talk and ask question. I think it has been personified to be able to talk so that the
girl can be calmer and relax.

We can also see the use of visual and auditory imagery in the first and second line. The sound
of the owl and her darkened room can give us a picture of her situation, which is indeed
frightening, especially for a young girl like her. This imagery puts the readers in the same
situation, therefore they can sympathize the fear she had suffered.
The "owl" can by symbolized as fear. Richard Wilbur pokes fun about what we are afraid of
because after all, an owl is just a bird. It goes the same for fear, that it isn't especially
terrifying after you throw away the way you think about it. Therefore, I think that the actual
message derived from the poem is that you cannot let your fears restrain you and blind you
from the truth. The poem emboldened us by saying how things really are. That is why we
should never fear the unknown. Richard Wilbur successfully used an owl because on the
outside, they look harmless and adorable, but their call at night proves how eerie it is. This
makes the bird perfect for the representation of the inconsistency of fear.

Symbolization can be found in the third line. "We" in the poem acts as the society. Not that
the society is comforting the child at her bed, but the society should be trained to be able
comfort and console others in their terrified state. The use of "we" in the poem means that
Richard Wilbur wanted the readers to contribute to comforting the frightened child, or can
also be anyone else.

In the sixth line, we can see repetition of "Who cooks for you?", but after I did some
research, I found out that a barred owl actually makes two hoots, so that is why the poet
purposely repeats the question.

Another visual and auditory imagery can be seen in the tenth to the twelfth line where it says
the sound of "stealthy flight", "small thing in a claw" and "dark branch", that offers the
glimpse of fear and struggle of the owl's prey. "Dark" has a literal and figurative meaning, it
can be the darkness of the branch, or can refer to the metaphoric darkness of nature in which
organisms are constantly eating or being eaten.

In the end of first and second stanza, there is what it's called as juxtaposition. Cooked and
eaten raw are two contrasting things and it forces the readers to see the opposite views of
nature. Another juxtaposition can be seen in the first and second stanza. Where the first
stanza describes the owl as a friendly and harmless animal, meanwhile in the second stanza, it
describes owl as a menacing and vicious predator.

Alliteration has been used too in the second stanza. Notice that there are many words
beginning with the letter "S" such as small, sleep, sound, stealthy, and some. I think that this
gives off a silent sound, as in a hush or like "shhhh", to prevent the child from hearing further
information regarding the owl as a predator.

In conclusion, Richard Wilbur has successfully deliver a message through the extensive and
effective use of imagery, symbolism, literary devices, structure, and language.