Harwood’s treatment of loss and consolation is initially established in Father and Child, particularly Part I, Barn Owl, through her amplification of ordinary experiences in order to engage readers. By locating memorable events, Harwood amplifies these experiences in Barn Owl, where the Owl itself serves as a symbol of the patriarchal values that underpin the time period. The persona’s intentional defiance of her father serves as a crucial experience through the sense of autonomy and the rejection of childhood conformity which she seeks to achieve. The biblical allusion to her father as an “old No-Sayer, robbed of power by sleep” reinforces the rebellious nature of the child further foreshadowing her inevitable loss of childhood innocence. “My first shot struck. He swayed, ruined…” is where the child performs the defining act of shooting the symbolic patriarchal figure, culminating in the permanent removal of childhood innocence. Harwood relies deeply of her knowledge of psychoanalytical theories, where the basic tenets involve the events in early childhood determining a person’s development. This sense of irretrievable childhood innocence serves as a major loss for the child and is furthered by the father’s didactic command, “End what you have begun”, where stern patriarchal power reasserts itself functioning as a form of consolation for the child who is now obligated to mature.
Similarly in The Violets, the adult persona experiences loss and, through her memories, is able to reach some level of acceptance and understanding. Her childhood memories are her perception of the experiences and therefore the symbolism “those hours of unreturning light” suggests that the persona, as an adult, has not completely come to terms with the loss of time. However, memories of her childhood, retained forever in the domestic tableau “child with milk and story-book” as the father ‘strokes’ the mother’s hair help mitigate the inevitability of the loss of her parents as she understands that “years cannot move nor death’s disorienting scale distort those lamplit presences.” Like the persona in Father and Child, she undergoes the loss of her parents yet is able to accept and understand this natural process through her memories, transcending even death. Even though Harwood is writing from a past era it brings home to us the incredible significance of understanding loss and consolation as they are inevitable aspects of our lives which lead to comfort and greater acceptance.