The poems of Gwen Harwood and Seamus Heaney use "Barn Owl" and "The Early Purges" to explore the idea of ​​loss of innocence and loss of life. In Harwood's poem "Barn Owl" it talks about a young child and the theme of loss of innocence, which is shown when the child is faced with adulthood and also experiences death when he shoots a barn owl. This is also similarly seen in Heaney's "The early purges", where the title itself explains and symbolizes the death of a young animal and the poet's loss of innocence as a child when he witnessed the brutality of death "I was six years old when I saw the kittens drowning for the first time. Both poets present similar themes of death and loss of innocence in their poetry. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Each poem shows a symbolism that connects to death and the loss of innocence, the symbol in Heaney's poem is related to the title "The Early Purges" which means the loss of a young life, "Purges" means to get rid of and “Early” means something from an early age. This title is linked to the symbol of the young kittens who drowned, or when the author as a child lost his innocence and witnessed the brutality of death for the first time. The symbol shown in 'Barn Owl' also connects similarly to the title where the symbol is the "Barn Owl" which is a symbol of wisdom who was killed by the child who lost his innocence, before the child thought of death as “clean and final” but instead the owl “limped in his own blood” giving the audience a sense and feeling of disgust when imagery is used to describe death in both poems. Imagery is used in both poems to explore the brutality of death. In Harwood's poem the "barn owl" shows the horror of death when the owl struggles to stay alive and in "The Early Purges" he also uses imagery in a similar way when Heaney writes imagery to describe how the kittens died "their little din was soon soaked. They were hung on the snout of the pump and the water was pumped in", this gives the audience an understanding of the agony these kittens feel and feel sympathy and sadness. The structure in Heaney and Harwood's poem is different, in Heaney's poem it shows him growing and becoming more mature in each stanza. The first verse is when he first witnesses death and "scared, for days I hung sadly around the yard" as he was terrified as a child and the last verse is when he no longer cares and now he has grown up when i squealing puppies are goaded into drowning I simply shrug: “Damn puppies.” It makes sense" in the sense that he is used to this treatment and cruelty to animals. Keep in mind: This is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay. Overall both poems show themes of loss and how the childhood experience progresses and changes as one matures and experiences death which causes themes of loss of innocence and symbols that connect to death.