The Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur

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The Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur

“The Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur, is a narration about how our fears can be anything we interpret them as. In this case, it relates to a storm at night where a little girl is scared in bed. Just about everyone can relate to at least one experience like this. The material on this poem mainly focuses on metaphors and symbols, for which our fears are not as they seem, the Conflict, which is the fear of the storm and the point of view in the poem.

The main symbol of the poem is the Owl itself. “The warping night air having brought the boom.” (1) This tells us that there is in fact a storm. “Of an owl’s voice” (2) Wilbur is now telling us that the owl’s voice can be the storm. He shows a parental figure comforting the child. He also shows that just simple words can be used to conquer fears, but “Can also thus domesticate a fear.” (8) The owl can also be represented as the child’s fear, staying hidden and not seen during the day around everyone else, and then coming forth at night where she is independent and alone. This parent has then calmed the girl by telling her that the storm is just an owl and is “not listening for the sound of stealthy flight” The girl is not just laying there listening for the noises of the night. Another symbol can be the thing the girl is now dreaming of. “Some small thing in a claw, Bourne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.” This can be the fear of the girl now gone, being forgotten and destroyed. Everyone can relate to this situation at one point in there life. It is dark and storming out and you just can’t sleep. But then that feeling goes away and everything is all right. Or when you try to hide from fear. Then to be comforted, calmed and overcome it.

The conflict in this poem is represented the same as the symbols and themes.