On my first son

... Boy at the Window In "Boy at the Window", Richard Wilbur uses examples of contrast, personification and allegory in order to convey a message about the fate of childhood innocence. Wilbur tries to tell the reader that the innocence felt by children is doomed from the start to succumb to the force of experience. Contrast is the strongest literary device utilized in "Boy at the Window", with the numerous examples serving to drive home the loss of innocence and set a tone for the whole poem. Wilbur juxtaposes the bitter cold outside with the warmth inside the home where the child resides; while the child looks at the snowman's predicament from his own perspective, the more experienced snowman knows that he would be doomed were he to enter the warm house. This leads into a contrast between the worldly snowman, who understands the necessary division between his position and

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