The Owl--Philip Edward Thomas.(3 March 1878 – 9 April 1917)

Edward Thomas

The Owl

Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved;

Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof

Against the North wind; tired, yet so that rest

Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof.

Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,

Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I.

All of the night was quite barred out except

An owl's cry, a most melancholy cry

Shaken out long and clear upon the hill,

No merry note, nor cause of merriment,

But one telling me plain what I escaped

And others could not, that night, as in I went.

And salted was my food, and my repose,

Salted and sobered, too, by the bird's voice

Speaking for all who lay under the stars,

Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice. 

Textual Analysis

1. ‘Downhill I came, hungry, yet not starved...’ who says this? Why does the speaker contrast hungry with starved?

The speaker here is the poet himself.

This poem is a true representation of a man’s inner conflict. The speaker under certain condition came down laden with hunger and fatigue, while his comrades were on the hill. He wanted food and rest but felt penitent for his desires, which he thought were selfish because he was not so hungry that he would have died that night.

    

2. ‘But one telling me plain ....escaped....’ who was the one referred to here? Explain what was told by the ‘one’?

The ‘one’ referred to here is the cry of the Owl.

The cry of the owl reverberated across the hill and spoke on behalf of the poet’s comrades. The poet in its melancholy and piercing cry found himself penitent for his coming down to a shelter leaving his comrades on the hill. He felt that for the time being he had escaped the clutches of death while the poor soldiers waited their imminent fate.

3. ‘All of the night was quite barred out...’ what is the meaning of ‘All of the night’? To whom was it barred out and why?

The poet by this expression wanted to convey the intensity of suffering and eventual death that night could have brought on him. ‘All of the night’ stood for hunger, cold, fatigue and death that night.

He had come down and procured himself food and rest in an inn. He had paid for those amenities and so the suffering of that night was restricted from reaching him.

4. ‘...Except an Owl’s cry...’ Why wasn’t the owl’s cry barred out?

Amidst his frugal amenities, which he thought the sweetest thing under a roof, the poet found that the owl’s cry couldn’t be barred out. He, being a sensitive poet, took its cry as the call of his own conscience that seemed reproaching him for being so weak and selfish.

5.  ‘And salted was my food...by the bird’s voice.’ In what sense does the poet use the word ‘salted’? How was his food ‘salted’ by the bird’s voice?

The poet was too hungry to differentiate between tasty and vile food. He was also fatigued and desperately needed rest. At such an hour the cry of the bird raised a storm inside his sensitive mind.

He felt that at his food and rest were salted in the sense that they became obnoxious to him. He could neither fulfil his hunger nor lie down on the couch, as he suffered scruples which left him utterly disappointed and broken.

6.  How does the call of the owl affect the poet? OR What is the significance of the title ‘The Owl’?

The owl being nocturnal has long been considered a sinister creature that calls upon misery, adversity and death. These symbols work upon the poet as the mirror of his conscience, as he realised that his needs were the reflection of a weak and selfish mind rather than of a sensitive poet. He felt that he had betrayed his comrades by coming down to the comfort of a secured place, while they awaited their imminent doom.

   

7. Describe the situation in the poem ‘The Owl’.

The poet, Edward Thomas, came down the hill in search of food and rest, being utterly fatigued and hungry. He got what he needed in an inn and all that stood for agony that night were restricted. However, an owl’s cry penetrated the numb darkness and hit him hard on his conscience. It spoke on behalf of the unfortunate soldiers who had no comfort that night but to fight in the cold and die. The poet could neither eat nor sleep as his soul fell apart in remorse.