In the poem A Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur the writer explains an adult protecting the child from the truth telling her in lines 3-6 that she only heard the owl asking a harmless question “Who cooks for you” In the poem The History Teacher by Billy Collins, Collins depicts an school teacher who chooses to hide the truth of the past from his students to protect their innocence.. Both authors have trusted figures in children’s lives mislead them into believing something that is false for the “protection” of the child.

These poems obviously share the concept of lying to children for their peace of mind’s sake. In the Barred Owl the writer explains that the parents tells the child that the bird is talking to her, asking her simple questions that shouldn’t provoke her fear. While this is an example of personification (the Owl talking) it also symbolizes a lack of foresight that is that in a effort to protect their daughter they have given her an unrealistic outlook on the world which can impose its own negative effects. The poem The History Teacher while lacking Personification it share the same concept of symbolism in the same way, the teacher hides or shelters his students from the truth about history offer his pleasant rendition of events rather than facts to protect their innocence. But like the parents of the A Barred Owl he has no prevision for the future, he is blind to what the results of his action and how the student he is trying to keep pure of mind are replicating the evil that he neglected to teach them.

These Poems differ in that Wilbur’s poem has an apparent rhythm dictated by the fact that it is a Couplet. The poem by Collins rhythm is guided by the structure in which it is written rather than a rhyme scheme or word choice, with each example of the teachers teaching separated by an empty line.

The tone of the poems also differ whereas Collins poem maintains the same tone throughout Wilbur’s gives an example of a mood shift, as in to say that after the first stanza is over the poem become more satire and dark.

The poems share similar symbols and underline concepts, but differ in how they present the information in which they contain. They both show how lies are used as a means to an end to protect children’s state of mind, while condemning them to be mislead later in life. The poem speaks to human natural will to protect the one they care about, and to how overcompensation can be the same as neglect.