poetry casebook
Transcript: Poetry Casebook Shel Silverstein •Born: 25 September 1930 •Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois •Died: 10 May 1999 (heart failure) •Best Known As: Author of Where the Sidewalk Ends Name at birth: Sheldon Alan Silverstein Shel Silverstein is best known for his quirky and irreverent children's books and poetry, including the modern classics The Giving Tree (1964), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) and A Light in the Attic (1981). Silverstein got his start when Hugh Hefner hired him in the 1950s to be the resident poet/cartoonist for Playboy magazine. While contributing poems, cartoons and travelogues to the magazine, Silverstein also wrote songs, among them the 1972 hit "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show and "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash. He was also nominated in 1991 for an Oscar, for the song "I'm Checkin' Out," performed by Meryl Streep in the movie Postcards From the Edge (1990, written by Carrie Fisher). His other books include A Giraffe and a Half (1964), The Missing Piece (1976) and Falling Up (1996). Poem 1 Whosever room this is should be ashamed! His underwear is hanging on the lamp. His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair, And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp. His workbook is wedged in the window, His sweater's been thrown on the floor. His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV, And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door. His books are all jammed in the closet, His vest has been left in the hall. A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed, And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall. Whosever room this is should be ashamed! Donald or Robert or Willie or-- Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear, I knew it looked familiar! paraphrase poem 1 This poem is in second person and he is shocked to find such a messy room. Clothing and other items are strewn everywhere and he thinks that whomever it belonged to should be ashamed. It turns out that it is his own room. Poetry terms in poem 1 Messy Room by Shel Silverstein contains an internal rhyme in the lines 7 and 11. He uses free verse but ends his with a couplet. In the fifth line of the poem, it contains a consonance: "His workbook is wedged in the window" Poem 1 criticism "My analysis of this poem would be not only about a messy room. But maybe a messy life. He explains all these things that are wrong with this persons room, not knowing whose it is. Then he realizes it's actually his. I think many people do that in their life. They look at someone's life and judge it. They criticize every point of that without looking at the own imperfect aspects of their own life." poem 2 One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school. The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool. A crumb of cake would be a feast And last you seven days at least, A flea would be a frightening beast If you were one inch tall. If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door, And it would take about a month to get down to the store. A bit of fluff would be your bed, You'd swing upon a spider's thread, And wear a thimble on your head If you were one inch tall. You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum. You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb. You'd run from people's feet in fright, To move a pen would take all night, (This poem took fourteen years to write-- 'Cause I'm just one inch tall). paraphrase of poem 2 This poem tells of a very tiny man, just one inch tall. Silverstein describes how normal daily things done by regular sized people would take this man a very long time because of his size. A new perspective is shown here to compare how different things could be. He ends the poem with saying that this person is him. Poetry terms for Poem 2 This poem uses a refrain at the end of each stanza, "If you were one inch tall" A different view on perspective is used to compare how life would be like if you were one inch tall. He uses a rhyme scheme of A,A,B,B,B,C in each stanza. Criticize of Poem 2 The poem shows how different life would be like if you were only one inch tall. He describes how ordinary day activities would be very difficult to do and this could relate to people with disablities or a disease. I think he is trying to show how everybody does not have the same ablility to do something. poem 3 Forgotten Language Once I spoke the language of the flowers, Once I understood each word the caterpillar said, Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings, And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed. Once I heard and answered all the questions of the crickets, And joined the crying of each falling dying flake of snow, Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . . How did it go? How did it go? Paraphrase of poem 3 Silverstein tells about how once he spoke the language of many things but now he has forgotten them. He had spoken to flowers, caterpillars, stars, flies, crickets, and snow. poetry terms in poem 3 Imagery is
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