"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.
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.
"How I Discovered Poetry"
by Marilyn Nelson
It was like soul-kissing, the way the words
filled my mouth as Mrs. Purdy read from her desk.
All the other kids zoned an hour ahead to 3:15,
but Mrs. Purdy and I wandered lonely as clouds borne
by a breeze off Mount Parnassus. She must have seen
the darkest eyes in the room brim: The next day
she gave me a poem she’d chosen especially for me
to read to the all except for me white class.
She smiled when she told me to read it, smiled harder,
said oh yes I could. She smiled harder and harder
until I stood and opened my mouth to banjo playing
darkies, pickaninnies, disses and dats. When I finished
my classmates stared at the floor. We walked silent
to the buses, awed by the power of words.
It was like soul-kissing, the way the words
filled my mouth as Mrs. Purdy read from her desk.
All the other kids zoned an hour ahead to 3:15,
but Mrs. Purdy and I wandered lonely as clouds borne
by a breeze off Mount Parnassus. She must have seen
the darkest eyes in the room brim: The next day
she gave me a poem she’d chosen especially for me
to read to the all except for me white class.
She smiled when she told me to read it, smiled harder,
said oh yes I could. She smiled harder and harder
until I stood and opened my mouth to banjo playing
darkies, pickaninnies, disses and dats. When I finished
my classmates stared at the floor. We walked silent
to the buses, awed by the power of words.
I think that the way Nelson describes being the only person of color in the class is very intense and vivid. This came through phrases like "the darkest eyes in the room brim," "the all except for me white class," the "disses and dats," and the way her classmates "stared at the floor." They all showed how it was for her to be in the class without explicitly saying how she felt. It came through her way of speaking and her observation of others.
ReplyDeletethe way of speaking through the sound of the words (the onomatopoeias) also comes through in 'A Barred Owl' through "Who cooks for you?" Using this non conventional way of hearing adds texture to what Wilbur is trying to express. Making it a question also adds to the depiction of the way it sounds and makes the poem even more thoughtful.
DeleteI like the point you make about how she shows instead of tells what it was like to be in that classroom
DeleteThe first poem brings you into the mind of a child who has just heard an unfamiliar sound. From their bedroom in the dark of night they are scared, however simply telling them what the noise was can "domesticate" fear. While reading this poem I visualized someone laying inside of a bed much as I would at night, and how a child would react to hearing an unknown noise. The second poem is far more enjoyable in my opinion. It is a child who finds herself engaged in her teachers class. Despite being the only black child, she has the bravery to stand up and read a poem. While reading this I was mindful of the tone, which displays that the girl is not afraid, and that the teacher holds a loving attitude towards her. The description of her poem does not in my opinion describe the sounds she made, but the content of the poem which she read out loud. "When i finished my classmates stared at the floor" implies that not of the kids were much interested in the class, never mind the poem which was just read. What links these two poems together for me is how they both maintain the perspective of the child. The first one, the pure innocence of a child who has yet to learn what an owl is and the noise it makes. The second one, a young child experiencing poetry for the very first time.
ReplyDeleteI liked your point about the contrast the two children show! Also, as the only black child, reading a poem about race to her all white class, it is more likely that this child has seen more of the world and is aware of the tension regarding race, making this child less innocent, and the two children opposites.
DeleteI thought that both poems, "A Barred Owl" and "How I Discovered Poetry" expressed the power of words really well. They are similar in the way they both use colorful language to express what is happening in the poem. It takes some more thinking to really see what the poem is trying to say because it's very short and uses metaphorical language. But the line "I wandered lonely as clouds borne
ReplyDeleteby a breeze off Mount Parnassus", while it isn't specific to what exactly the two characters are feeling but it offers imagery of two individuals who are standing out from the rest. The last lines of the the owl poem contrast with each other one offering the idea of a peaceful child and the other an owl catching its prey. It manages to show exactly what words can do to twist what is happening but provide comfort as well. Without describing exactly how words are powerful, it uses the example of a child comforted by an owl asking "“Who cooks for you?” when it really is eating a meal to portray how words are used in its larger context in our society.
The imagery of Mount Parnassus shows how Nelson feels without telling. One can imagine vividly the feeling atop a mountain while saying that they felt alone and separated together would not satisfy the vividness of the poem.
DeleteBoth of these poems use words, storytelling, and literature to make a situation seem better than it is. In “A barred owl,” the author tells a frightened child who woke up to an owl that it was just asking her, “who cooks for you.” By doing this, the child’s fears are dissolved and she can return back to sleep peacefully without having to worry about the scary owl. By believing that words are being spoken by the owl, the child no longer has to worry about the chance of being attacked by the owl. Similarly, in “How I Discovered Poetry,” a child left her classmates speechless with the help of a poem. This child was the only non-white kid in the class, and when the teacher introduced this student to poetry, it became a means of escape for them. They could escape the reality, escape the racism and prejudice, and the student finally found somewhere where they belonged.
ReplyDeleteAs is evident in your comment, both children gain a level of comfortability because of the spoken or written words. I think that that is the lesson in both poems and that you explained that well.
DeleteThe two poems are connected by the impact words can have, especially on children. In the first poem, it takes a vivid moment brought by nature, therefore, uncontrollable. It shows that the parents have the ability to change the child's outlook on life by just mummering a few words. In the second poem, it is more of an experience and less of a moment. The girl seems to find a sort of familiarity in words, more specifically, poems. The class might not understand the girl's position, but through the poem that the girl reads, their outlook is shaped. They are "awed" by the words as the child in the previous poem is comforted.
ReplyDeleteBoth poems seem to address the power that words can have on people. In the poem "A Barred Owl" words are used to calm a child. In the poem "How I Discovered Poetry" words are used in poetry to teach the children and make them think. Words can be very influential, they can change a perspective and put someone at ease if used right. "A Barred Owl" also says that words can "make our terrors bravely clear" saying that words can do a variety of things. Words can open up whole new worlds to people and make them think. Words can instill fear, happiness, hatred, love, and much more, which is why they are so powerful.
ReplyDeleteI know not all poetry has to be rhyming and the more “sophisticated poems” I have read are not, but I find something extremely satisfying about rhyming poems, like the words were literally meant to be there. When a poem rhymes I don't see the author trying to write the poem, it seems like fate.
ReplyDeletePoetry seems to leave more room for the ideas themselves, less for formalities and grammar. In quotations, it is not the “rule” to have them enclosed in quotation marks. This somehow adds to the realness of those words and doesn't interrupt the rhythm of the poem as quotations marks in prose would. Also, in poetry, the poet creates their own lines breaks which gives them an enormous amount of power, almost a rhetorical device on it's own. In “How I Discovered Poetry” I can see how she wanted to end certain phrases at the end of lines or emphasize certain words at the beginning of certain lines. Similar to how fiction can create a needed distance between the story and the truth, poetry can use it's flow and freedom to accomplish the same feat.
These two poems are similar yet also different in their form. The first poem, “A Barred Owl” is split into two stanzas, both of which have the repetition of rhyming in each line. The first stanza of this poem is more of the actual story, where the second stanza is the inner meaning behind it, claiming “Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear, can also thus domesticate a fear,...” (line 7-8). This connects with the poem that follows, “How I Discovered Poetry”, because it discusses the power of words among a group of people or in general. Both of these poems show a story of a child and their realization that words can do a variety of jobs - showing this storytelling as well as imagination idea behind both of the works. The storytelling brings racism into the poem when the second poem’s character had to, “read to the all except for me white class”. The reasoning behind it is to show the child’s view on the power of words and what they can do.
ReplyDeleteIn the first poem a line that stands out to me is "Words, that can make our terrors bravely clear,/ Can also domesticate a fear,". I see that as we describe our fears we can start to control them and begin to understand them a bit more. The fear itself is not absolved but because one is able to explain what is happening, emotions are easier to notice and recognize. The owl becomes a driving factor, in which it is a symbol of recognition for the child, to be more alert and create a new sense of understanding. In the second poem the author express the power of words and how they can change the atmosphere in a room, and also give strength to an individual. The idea of words being to capture a person, and transform their world around them, but also being able to reveal a strength within. The line that says “It was soul-kissing, the way words/ filled my mouth” illustrates a deep connection, the author is stating the words, they are flowing to the very core, feeding into their soul.
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ReplyDeleteI feel that both these poems highlight the power of words, and how words have the strength to be more powerful than actions. In "A Barred Owl," Wilbur talks about how words can be used to "domesticate a fear." Likewise, in "How I Discovered Poetry," Nelson reminds us how words can be used to reveal a truth.
ReplyDeleteThough both poems have similar themes, both authors go about it differently. I think this is the power of poetry- being able to refer to similar themes and go about through different contexts. It is this process that allow some poems to resonate with us better than others.
Both of these poems explore the power of words, and the effect they can have on others. With "A Barred Owl" by Richard Wilbur, words are a comfort, used to soothe a frightened mind. With "How I Discovered Poetry" by Marilyn Nelson, words are the exact opposite. The narrator says that, "When I finished my classmates stared at the floor" showing the discomfort and shame that the poem, filled with racial tension, has caused them. The way that Nelson frames this, leaving much of the information unsaid and up to the reader to discover, is quite captivating. In "A Barred Owl" by Richard Wilbur, the author uses a shift in tone and perspective to illustrate the power of words. He starts with the parents, as they comfort their child, then zooms back to the view of a narrator, commenting explicitly on the power of the parents words, before ending with a description of "some small thing in a claw, Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw." He ends on this note, showing stark contrast between the tone of playful amusement felt earlier with the world created by the parents words, and the harsh reality of life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with how the use of words allows for the change in tone/mood to be very contrasting and saturated, where it is often difficult to be applied without the right wording.
DeleteBoth of these poems place an emphasis on the power of words in interesting ways. In “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur, the narrator states “Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear, / Can also thus domesticate a fear.” This is true, and it’s strange to consider that all our fears and nightmares and hopes and dreams essentially boil down to being composed of words. This poem is written more in the way I think of poetry: it rhymes, it is short, and is somewhat difficult to interpret. “How I Discovered Poetry” by Marilyn Nelson is less like this. It seems to me as though it is a paragraph to which line breaks have been added mid sentence, and there is more punctuation in it. In this poem, the narrator has read a poem to the class and says “We walked silent / to the buses, awed by the power of words.” I think these two lines are what most link the poems together. In the former, it is simply about a child awakened by an owl, and the latter is about a girl reading a poem to her class. In each, the purpose is to show the effect words can have on people.
ReplyDeleteI like the first one, it has a feeling of innocence to it. With the very simple structure of the rhyme scheme, and the story that is being told, reminded me of a few times my aunt stayed with us for a night or two and would make up stories about Guardian Angels dancing around my room when I heard a noise at night. Then the second one, it has a powerful tone to it. The wording it has just has this build up to when she reads the poem and a soft ending of how they all walked to the buses, thinking about what had happened in the class. The two stories, although seem different, show the same idea; words hold so much power. With the owl, the words were carefully used to describe the owl, in almost a humorous way, to make the child feel comforted. In the second poem, all of the children, who I assume usually run and yell whilst leaving school, were left silet after class due to the words that were just read. The way that you use words and structure that you put them in is critical. If the words that were chosen to describe the owl was different, if they chose to talk about the claws and the sharp beak, the child would only think of that, then forever have a negative connotation to that animal. Also, in both poems, it also centers around children, and I like that because we learn at a young age that the way we describe things and the way we use our words is so important, and when we learn this at a young age when we are so impressionable, we think about it for the rest of our lives.
ReplyDeleteYou took a very unique stance from everyone else in really asserting which story you liked and how and why it made an impact on you.
DeleteIn the first poem, I was intrigued by the mood of the story, as it was ominous yet had a slight childish feel to it. In relation to "Recitatif," the child in the poem also was not aware of the reality of the situation. With Twyla and Roberta, their perceptions of their time in the shelter were altered, and they found it hard to remember things properly. Twyla also did not know that her race would play such a role in her friendship. Both the poem and the short story are representations of childhood innocence.
ReplyDeleteThe second poem reminds me of the power of words in "Recitatif." Similarly, in both writings, the characters react different after their discussions of race. It is revealing how words can mean so much, especially when put in the context of discrimination. I also found it interesting that Nelson chose to write her poem in a format similar to a paragraph. This creates the effect of a story being told. The sense of time passing between the story and the poem being written emphasizes her view on words and their power.
It's really interesting how you related the poems back to Recitatif.
Delete“A Barred Owl” is a rhyming poem that has a very structured rhythm unlike the more story-like structure of “How I Discovered Poetry.” Both poems emphasize the power of words. This power is largely unmatchable by any other force. The ability of words to change minds, evoke strong emotions, and alter reality whether sitting on a page staring back at the reader or delivered through one’s voice. An example of the power of words is shown in the first poem: words have the power to alter reality leading to a change in emotion or behavior in an instant. The second poem illustrates the ability of words to encite deep-thought and communicate other perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way Richard Wilbur brought a child’s fear of the dark into his poem, “ A Barred Owl”. The way it was presented was the way I am sure most of us heard growing up, “there’s nothing to be afraid of”, or “you’re just hearing things”, and that is exactly the tactic Wilbur uses. In the lines
ReplyDelete“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”
Shows the parents telling the child that they are only hearing the wind, yet it could be much more than that.
In the second poem “How I Discovered Poetry” by Marilyn Nelson, I enjoyed the way she brought background into her poem showing just how powerful words can be. As the young child sits there, her teacher takes notice that she is captivated by the literature and later hand picks a poem for her. Which then leaves the class in awe of what words have the power to do. Between these two poems they are both showing what power and impact words can have on a person. In Wilbur’s poem, it is just the parents reassurance to the child that all they heard was the wind, and they go back to sleep. Yet in Nelson’s poem it is the words of truth, words of being from a different race, that makes everyone in the classroom think, yet have nothing to say.
Both poems convey the power behind words and the abilities they possess. The first, "A Barred Owl" by Richard WIlbur, describes the power of words to describe accurately terrors one experiences, while also serving as a remedy to tame the scariest parts to which we cower. A poem of rhymes, Wilbur utilizes this structure of poetry between an up-hearted message of being able to overcome one's fear and a beat of dread awaiting the claws of an owl to swoop down and make its kill. And although the rhyme scheme may confuse the reader with an interesting ordering of words, it ultimately gives the poem a wondrous, magical feel that carries the reader throughout its length with eager anticipation.
ReplyDeleteThe other, "How I Discovered Poetry" by Marilyn Nelson, assigns words' power to a greater change of mind. Unlike the owl poem of before, Nelson's poem utilizes stanza's to emphasize the importance of each line and each word. The poem follows a child of colour who is enthralled with their teachers ability to give them a "soul-kiss" through the words she read, while all the other children have zoned off to thinking of the end of the school day. The teacher, noticing the one child's passion for words, gives them a poem to read to an all white class which ends up showing a drastic change between the bored children in the beginning and the awed, silent children of the end. In the course of a few lines, Nelson shows an aging of the children through only the power of words. And although we have a hint as to the poem's meaning (talking of inequality between races through narrative), the reader doesn't require the full length of the poem within the poem to understand that the course of a few lines in a poem changed the children's attitudes drastically.
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ReplyDeletePoems often have the power to transform otherwise mundane situations into large scales metaphors or awakenings. In Wilbur's poem "A Barred Owl", the creature, with its terrifying essence, fabricates a terror essential to its 'domestication', once that fear is understood, and felt, it can then be conquered. Both poems allude to the power wielded by words. Words have the power to inflict emotions, that when fully made clear, can be molded by its audience. Words hold meaning to its reader, being shaped by one's needs and want. Words can interchangeably cause terror and calmness, they can provide fear but also support, words are but a freeform vehicle of expression, if the reader is attentive and careful enough to take these words, not for what they are, but for what they could be. Poems make you uncomfortable, they make you question, and within convoluted metaphors and everlasting similes, themes and critiques, one's perception of its meaning differs from those around them, for words are alive, mutable, powerful.
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ReplyDeleteWhat really caught my eye was the drastic change in tone dictated by word choice from the first part of A Barred Owl to the second part. The sentence structure and word choice used in the first part exemplified lighter and more serene feelings with the usage of diction like "We tell the wakened child that all she heard". However when one gets to the second part its easy to distinguish that the tone of the piece has gone almost negative and eerie with the usage of diction such as the following "some dark branch and eaten raw" or "domesticate a fear". I liked this contrast because it was unexpected i assumed the second part would follow suit and be serene and peaceful yet it tapped into a little deeper and little heavier thinking.
ReplyDeleteI like your emphasis on the change between the two stanzas, and the effect it has.
DeleteIn "A Barred Owl" the poem is broken into two stanzas. In the first, An Owl is described entering a child's room. The child is scared not knowing what or who the sound was. The Child then hears, "Who cooks for you... Who cooks for you." In the second stanza, the child is described being able to fall back asleep without fear due to the "owls" words. She was at first scared when it was dark and unfamiliar. This can show how when things are unfamiliar and we don't know enough that it can result in irrational fear. What the "owl" chose to say had a big impact on the child, hence what is said and how it's said is important.
ReplyDeleteIn "How I Discovered Poetry" by Marilyn Nelson, a young girl is described as being very interested in class and being the only one to pay attention. Her teacher notices this and it seems like she is going to be rewarded for this as the teacher asks her to read a story outloud to the class on her own. When she reads the poem with "banjo playing..darkies, pickaninnies, disses and dats" her classmates all stare at the floor. The last line of the poem is, "We walked silent to the buses, awed by the power of words." In both poems, the power of words are expressed.
"A Barred owl" conveys the irrationality of fear and how words are powerful and can suppress strong emotion. The child is scared of the vicious owl but as soon as the owl asks, "who cooks for you" her fear was carried away. The owl symbolizes nature, an unpredictable force and how it can be seen as a friendly creature who asks a question as silly as this or as a terrifying predator. The power of words is also depicted in "How I Discovered Poetry" by Marilyn Nelson, but in a more serious stance, "When I finished
ReplyDeletemy classmates stared at the floor. We walked silent to the buses, awed by the power of words." The little girl. uses the power of words and poetry to escape in a way and is also used to see other people's perspective.
I didn't really like the first poem as much as I liked the second. Both talk about the power of words, and how they can change us. But the first confuses me with its metaphor. The second poem is honest. I felt the same awe Nelson talks of when she first heard that poem in certain periods of learning at school. That first line, "It was like soul-kissing" enraptures and connects to us, even if we didn't have that feeling with poetry because everyone has had that feeling with something, fleeting or not. Wilbur's poem is rich with imagery, but something about the owl freaks me out. The line "Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw" leaves the reader slightly unsettled by the thought of a fearsome owl feasting, even if the beginning of the poem was simpler and lighter. Wilbur ends "A Barred Owl" with an unnerving feeling, even though the message of the power of words, and how they can be used for something less positive is upsetting. Both poets know that a word has the power to change us, but how they are used is where they differ. Both use words as a weapon to be wielded, but the intention is unfortunately hurtful in the second poem, even though the description by Nelson is more my taste in terms of poetry.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate how Sonnets, and poetry in general, have the power to turn something supposedly meaningless into valid expressions of emotion and thought. I came across the expression “finding the David in the marble” a few years ago, it references Michelangelo's world renowned creation, and I think it appropriately applies to poetry; authors yield the power to construct world within words and convey feelings through mundade events, taking the inspiration for their creations from the world around them, from things others often fail to see the beauty in.
ReplyDeleteA Sonnet I was particularly drawn to was “America” by Claude Mckay. The contrasting yet converging sentiments on the country that gives while taking carefully constructs and convey an imagery of America as it is, a country of overlapping ideals. While the author feels fervently underserved by his nation, he still is caught within its arms and embraced by its love, for America gives him the “strength erect against her hate” and cradles his rebellion.
Reading these Sonnets reminded me of the first poem we read as a class this year, "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins. I see poetry to be amorphous, interchangeable, and ambiguous. It’s meaning is shaped by the reader and there is not one way to interpret it, for art belongs not only to the artist but also to its audience.
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