Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur

“A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur conveys the irrationality of fear that is in humanity during dark times and how words can either show that fear or satisfy it. The poem begins with a child being frightened by the “boom of an owl’s voice” (1-2, Wilbur) while she is sleeping. The child is unreasonably scared because of the darkness of the night and the unfamiliar voice of the owl. To satisfy her fears, her parents tell her the owl was not intending to frighten her, but his call innocently asked “who cooks for you” (6, Wilbur), which is very relieving to the child. A tone shift occurs from the first stanza, which was assuring when discussing the child, to the second stanza, which expresses Wilbur’s delve into the power of words. Wilbur’s message of the poem warns that words can “make our terrors bravely clear” (7, Wilbur) when they are not used reassuringly during times of distress. Contrarily, as we saw in the first stanza, words can also tame or “domesticate a fear” (8, Wilbur). The tone of the second stanza is outright and a bit forewarning. The owl and child incident is a symbol for the larger, darker problems that humanity face. Wilbur continues to describe how not using the right words can have an impact. In this instance, the child would have been kept awake with worry or dreamed of gruesome, menacing images about the owl if her parents had not eased her fears. Since the poem lacks mystery, the syntax and rhyme scheme is common and simple. There is a AABBCCDDEEFF rhyme scheme to this poem.