Barn Owl

Gwen Harwood

Daybreak: the household slept.

I rose, blessed by the sun.
A horny fiend, I crept
out with my father's gun.
Let him dream of a child
obedient, angel-mind-

old No-Sayer, robbed of power

by sleep. I knew my prize
who swooped home at this hour
with day-light riddled eyes
to his place on a high beam
in our old stables, to dream

light's useless time away.

I stood, holding my breath,
in urine-scented hay,
master of life and death,
a wisp-haired judge whose law
would punish beak and claw.

My first shot struck. He swayed,

ruined, beating his only
wing, as I watched, afraid
by the fallen gun, a lonely
child who believed death clean
and final, not this obscene

bundle of stuff that dropped,

and dribbled through the loose straw
tangling in bowels, and hopped
blindly closer. I saw
those eyes that did not see
mirror my cruelty

while the wrecked thing that could

not bear the light nor hide
hobbled in its own blood.
My father reached my side,
gave me the fallen gun.
'End what you have begun.'

I fired. The blank eyes shone

once into mine, and slept.
I leaned my head upon
my father's arm, and wept,
owl blind in early sun
for what I had begun.
Summary Sheet

Poem Title: Barn Owl

Poet: Gwen Harwood

Speaker: Child - “blessed” to “wept”

Rhyme and Rhythm: Syllable count: 666667 866677 666666 676877 677666 766666 766676

Language Change and Imagery:

Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds in words close together, often used in poetry. eg. In the
midst of this thine hymn my writing eyes (keats)

Alliteration - The repetition of sound, especially consonants, at the beginning of words, often used in
poetry. eg. A slumber did my spirit seal (wordsworth)

Simile - A figure of speech in which two things are compared using ‘like’ or ‘as’ eg. “the night was as
black as a cloak”

Personification - Figurative language that attributes human qualities to inanimate objects eg. “the
candle / gulps and recovers its small attitude” (plath)

Symbol - An object that stands for a larger or more abstract entity, the symbolic object is apart of or
associated with the larger entity eg. scales symbolise justice

Images

Setting

Major Concerns
Each Stanza’s Main Focus

Stanza 1 - The first stanza introduces a “blessed” child attempting to achieve maturity, contrasting
their peculiar behaviour. While they are employed as “obedient” and “angel-mind[ed]” in the vision
of others, their attempts to escape from that notion... The child acknowledges that they should not
place themselves in this situation, using their “father’s gun” to display that they are not responsible
enough to own one. Additionally, the fact that the child is not assigned a gender connotes that she is
a generalisation of the superficial nature existing in all children.

Stanza 2 - Planning their actions precisely as a “prize”, the premeditated slaughter exerted in
retaliation for their own actions clearly makes the death inessential. While the child believed they
were “robbed of power,” their ideology of regaining said power is clearly questionable due to
deriving their motives from unrelated feelings. This is further explored by seeing through “riddled
eyes,” explaining that the child does not understand the true nature of their actions at that point in
the poem.

Stanza 3 - Additionally, Harwood questions the validity of the justice system where a group of people
hold the fate of another, explored through the “punish [of] beak and jaw” while still keeping in
theme of the story. With people like the child as the “master of life and death” relying on
nonconformist ideals to force decisions.

Stanza 4 - However, immediately after the “first shot struck,” it is evident that the child immediately
visualises themself as a lesser person, picking up a “fallen” gun as symbolism for their actions. While
the child visualises a perfect “death clean and final,” they are importantly presented as relatable
through still obtaining morals, displaying that they do not truly want the lifestyle they thought they
wanted. With each line varying between six and eight syllables, this stanza presents itself as the
climax of the poem, creating a scene of mass destruction and chaos.

Stanza 5 - Exploring the extent of the child’s actions through imagery, the owl is vividly pictured as
the victim of an assassination, denoting its demotion to just a “bundle of stuff” rather than a living
being that once was. It is clear that the child’s values did not “mirror” those of the destruction they
had created while small, understanding that their actions were “cruel” from the dismissal of another
life. While the author could have described the actions more graphically, Harwood chose to employ
euphemism just like speaking to a child, signifying that the innocence of the child mirrors all children;
however, it also portrays the action of the child as unsettling violence.

Stanza 6 - Through being “afraid by the fallen gun,” the child is portrayed as unable to control the
power of the weapon. Additionally, the father is presented by Harwood as a constant force in the life
of the child, providing authority and wisdom towards a rebellious child. He evidently values
accountability for his actions through forcing his child to “end what [they had] begun,” encouraging
learning through play.

Stanza 7 - Nevertheless, Harwood still presents the slaughterer as a child in nature and in practice,
displayed through their genuine “we[eping]” in order to acknowledge that while the owl had been
totally removed, the child’s innocence still remains in some capacity while taking on a different form.
Task: Write a 300 word response outlining what you think are the poem's/Harwood's main
messages. Use quotations to support your ideas.

Gwen Harwood’s poem ‘Barn Owl’ explores the inevitable loss of innocence children experience
attempting to be portrayed as mature, however displays its indispensable nature due to allowing
individual growth to occur even when destruction is necessary for it to happen.

Innocence

While the child visualises a perfect “death clean and final,” they are importantly presented as
relatable through still obtaining morals, displaying that they do not truly want the lifestyle they
thought they wanted. It is clear that the child’s values did not “mirror” those of the destruction they
had created while small, understanding that their actions were “cruel” from the dismissal of another
life. Through being “afraid by the fallen gun,” the child is portrayed as unable to control the power of
the weapon.

Additionally, the father is presented by Harwood as a constant force in the life of the child, providing
authority and wisdom towards a rebellious child. He evidently values accountability for his actions
through forcing his child to “end what [they had] begun,” encouraging learning through play. While
the child believed they were “robbed of power,” their ideology of regaining said power is clearly
questionable due to deriving their motives from their unrelated feelings.

Nevertheless, Harwood still presents the slaughterer as a child in nature and in practice, displayed
through their genuine “we[eping]” in order to acknowledge that while the owl had been totally
removed, the child’s innocence still remains in some capacity while taking on a different form.

Lost Innocence

However, immediately after the “first shot struck,” the child had already thought of themself as a
lesser person, picking up a “fallen” gun from their actions. Planning their actions precisely as a
“prize”, their premeditated slaughter in retaliation for their own actions clearly makes the death
inessential. The child is displayed as a “blessed” and “obedient” to further contrast the peculiar
behaviour and display their transition into maturity.

The innocence of the owl is also displayed by feeling free to “dream light’s useless time away,”
signifying that the bird suffers from the same reality every person does. Through describing the
environment as “urine-scented hay,” Harwood provides an innuendo that the child is entering a
murderous environment not suitable/necessary for any human, let alone child, to enter. However,
the author reassures that the killing of the owl wasn’t the cataclysm, rather the new nature of the
child derived from their thoughtless/careless actions.

By attempting to complete the action in secret but still needing her father’s guidance to fulfill it
connotes that all people rely on the wisdom of other people to make the right decisions Through
using their “father’s gun,” it is evident that the child assumed actions unsuitable for their nature, and
clearly regretted it when “wept”. Harwood employs an idiom when detailing that the bird can “not
bear the light nor hide,” signifying that the child could neither kill the bird forcefully nor fight off the
temptation to not kill it as a result of their perfervid emotions.

Destruction

Harwood importantly explores the owl’s death gradually from “beating…wing” to just a “bundle of
stuff” to signify the destruction of man, where an agonizing demise is crucial in symbolizing what
humans are capable of when fiery. However, while the child did not want the reality they were
placed in, they had created it for themselves, signifying that an acumen nature can
While the author could have described the actions more graphically, Harwood chose to employ
euphemism just like speaking to a child, signifying that the innocence of the child mirrors all children;
however, it also portrays the action of the child as unsettling violence. By seeing through “riddled
eyes,” the child clearly does not understand the true nature of their actions at that point in the
poem. Further, the fact that the child is not assigned a gender connotes that she is a generalisation of
the superficial nature existing in all children.

Additionally, Harwood questions the validity of the justice system where a group of people hold the
fate of another, explored through the “punish [of] beak and jaw” while still keeping in theme of the
story. With people like the child as the “master of life and death” relying on nonconformist ideals to
force decisions. Objectifying the owl as no more than a “wretched thing,” it is clear that the child has
completely disregarded the life of the owl in favor of their own ideals, signifying selfishness as a
source of destruction.