A Barred Owl And The History Teacher Essay

Many times adults, parents, or teachers bend the truth to protect a child’s emotions and innocence. In the following poems, “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins, both poets state a situation where an adult provides an explanation for a child by withholding the truth. Nevertheless, both poets use rhyme scheme, tone, and detail to execute their point.
In “A Barred Owl” Wilbur includes an ABC rhyme scheme to symbolize the child's innocence as one is in grade school. The poem contains repetition of the consonants to emphasize that serene words can comfort a child when fear strikes. Richard Wilbur structures the poem as a couplet in order to explain the disheartening situation while using simplistic writing, “The
For example, “warping” and “darkened” create a foreboding sense that highlights the child's fear (lines 1 and 2). Also, Wilbur includes a “forest bird” to calm the child by saying that words can make people afraid and can misguide one from the truth. In “The History Teacher” the teacher understates that the “Enola Gay” dropped a “tiny atom” instead of an atomic bomb (line 12). The children believed what the teacher had taught. In addition, Collins describes the teachers flaws by stating that “he gathered up his notes and walked home” while the children “leave his classroom for the playground to torment the weak and the smart” (lines 18 and 14-16). Instead of the teacher controlling the situation, he ignores it and proves that he is inadequate to educate children.
In “A Barred Owl”, Wilbur makes his point that parents altering the truth is justified in that they are comforting and protecting their child's innocence. In “The History Teacher”, Collins makes his point that the teacher is oblivious to his surroundings believing that the world is perfect and leaving his job to the parents to educate their children of the world's