Theme Of Childhood In Gwen Harwood's Barn Owl

Through her poetry, Gwen Harwood takes marginalised groups within the society of her time and privileges their experiences and struggles by giving them a voice. Her symbolic use of children, mothers, and middle aged women reflect the difficulties the voiceless often faced during a time when traditional beliefs prevailed. She draws on personal experiences to explore how significant losses during different stages of life ultimately result in profound emotional growth and maturity. Harwood endorses the strength and determination of these individuals as they strive to overcome societal hardships by celebrating their significance in both conformist and contemporary society.

Harwood’s portrayal of childhood demonstrates the typical yet traumatic

Through ‘Barn Owl’, Harwood places emphasis on the loss of naivety during childhood caused by a violent introduction into the complexities of adulthood. Harwood alludes to religious symbols and violent imagery to reveal that naïve acts of defiance against their relative powerlessness have demoralizing effects on children. Initially, the “angel mild” child, “blessed” by the rising sun intends to claim her “prize” as “master of life and death”, conveying the purity and simplicity of childhood. However, Harwood juxtaposes this religious imagery with the presence of a “horny fiend” to disprove the child’s preconceived innocence and display her potential for evil. Once her “first shot struck”, her belief that death is “clean and final” is refuted by the “obscene bundle of stuff”, emphasizing the child’s naivety and inability to comprehend her actions through graphic imagery. Furthermore, the owl’s “eyes that did not see” is used as a symbol for the knowledge and “blindness” to the extent of her own cruelty the child is forced to recognise. Harwood demonstrates the consequences of the child’s rebellion as reflected in the severity of the owl’s death and the child’s reaction to her brutality. As the the poem’s sentences progressively become longer and more subdued after she shoots the owl, Harwood im plies the child’s new understanding

She demonstrates how social pressures and the narrow constraints of motherhood contribute to the isolating nature of the assumed fulfilling experience. In “In The Park”, Harwood challenges the stereotypical ideal of motherhood by adopting a pessimistic tone when depicting the mother as resentful towards her role. She initially juxtaposes the woman’s immobilisation as she “sits in the park”, with the liberating essence of parks to draw attention to the restrictive yet unchanging nature of the patriarchal society. As she crosses paths with an old lover, they “stand awhile in flickering light”, symbolizing the contrast and link between the lightness in his life and darkness within hers, reinforcing how motherhood has figuratively “eaten [her] alive”. Similarly, Harwood explores the entrapment experienced by women in the domestic sphere in “Burning Sappho”. She establishes from the idea that a woman’s desire to deviate from traditional expectations is constantly outweighed by the duties she must fulfil as a mother. The mother’s “burning” desire to write is personified as a “monster” within her, who “grins” when another responsibility presents itself, to convey the idea that deliberately stretching the constraints that confine mothers to domesticity is often perceived as unacceptable. Furthermore, as “Orion first begins”, the woman internally condemns her