Barn Owl by Gwen Harwood
Woken to the cruel reality, with gun in hand… Blood trickling from the fallen prize to your trembling feet.
In the poem Barn Owl by Gwen Harwood, a child was illustrated to be creeping out into the barn with his father's gun to kill their barn owl; his intentions were unknown, however “I” seemed to be regretful and despised himself for what he did.
Literary Devices
The sentence “those eyes that did not see” was a is a paradoxical symbolism; it is paradoxical as eyes are usually able to see and it symbolises that the owl could not “see” the boy’s cruelty and still continues to “hop blindly closer”.
“I” was obviously still a child, yet he had described himself as “a horny fiend”, “master of life and death” and “a wisp-haired judge whose law would punish beak and claw”. These descriptions contrasts with how his father’s expectation of him as ” a child obedient, angel-mild, old no-sayer, robbed of power by sleep” The imagery of an angel and devil was a stark contrast. The contrast shows that the child is rebellious and wants to prove his father wrong by killing something, which will showcase his strength. The owl was metaphorized as a “prize” for the child to obtain to show his strength. Ironically, the child has paid his price, losing innocence, after he obtain this "prize"
Owl traditionally symbolises the changes in life. The owl in this poem may be symbolising the innocence of youth was lost as the child tries something forbidden. The owl symbolises being able to see beyond the veil of illusion, in this case the innocence of youth, as the owl flew in with “daylight riddled eyes”.
Themes
Thematically, this poem creates a scene where a young child’s moral and ethic awakening is presented; by narrating the death of a barn owl, the themes of moral struggle between ending the owls suffering or hurting it even more is also portrayed. The owl’s death symbolises a transition from innocence to reality, which can be catagorized as bildungsroman. 
Hi Dora, I think you could have started with a better title that isn’t necessarily the title of your poem - it would have been a lot more moving. There are also some grammar mistakes (ie. ‘the sentence …. was a is a’) and you could work on making it more cohesive. You could also end with a more final sentence to show the analysis is finished. I do think your analysis is well done and you interpreted the poem really well! - Hilarie
ReplyDeleteHi Dora! I liked how you looked at the background/symbolism behind the owl, who is a key component to the story. I also liked how you started the analysis with the line “Woken to the cruel reality, with gun in hand… Blood trickling from the fallen prize to your trembling feet.”because it sets the mood well for the rest of the piece. One thing that you could have done to make the analysis easier to read would be to incorporate more spaces between each paragraph. Lastly you could end off with a more impactful ending.
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Hi Dora! I like your analysis of the Barn Owl, especially with the symbolism you pointed out. I also agree with your understanding towards the poem as you stated the owl symbolises the child’s innocence and major change in life. You understood the poem completely as you explained the poetic techniques clearly and related them to the main theme later on. The format of your blog post was also really easy to read and follow, however you could bold the keywords to make it even better. -Queenie
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