Where the Sidewalk Ends
By Shel Silverstein
When I first got the assignment to write about good poetry, I was flabberghasted. While I always liked poetry when I was younger, I hated determining whether it was good poetry and I was always terrible at distinguishing what the meanings behind the poems were. One specific thing I do remember about liking poetry was Shel Silverstein books. When I was in grammar school, I had to make a book of poetry. It was my masterpiece. I took my favorite poems from Shel Silverstein's books and drew fabulous pictures. I worked on it and worked on it until it was perfect. (I was always an overachiever when it came to creativity.)Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein. I read the book and had several flashbacks. But there was still one problem. While I loved all of the poems, I still didn't know what "good poetry" consists of. I asked the library teacher and she helped me out. She gave me a handouttitled: What Makes Good Poetry. I remember that book like I made it yesterday. Therefore, I went to the library in my school and took out
This handout really helped me out. I am going to list some of the things it told me, and maybe it may help some of you who struggled in the same ways I did.
First, the opening paragraph opened my eyes to a new idea about good poetry:
"Poetry, good poetry that is, bites and stings. It arouses your senses. It burns a hole in your brain. It stimulates your imagination. You think, "I never thought it like that before." Yet, It (whatever it is) was always there for everyone to see. A fork in the road - some snow in the woods at night - some gold rushers slugging it out in a Yukon saloon… the difference is the view that the writer brings to the reader. And that has made all the difference ages and ages hence."
Now, there are several other important ideas to help distinguish between good and average poetry:
1. "Good poetry has to say something. It gives meaning, value, or worth to a person, place, or thing. It speaks-about or focuses-on something that everyone can relate to. If it does this, it’s got a good start. But it can’t just be wishy-washy, pie in the sky, by and by, dribble. It’s got to hit home. It’s got to get you where you live. You’ve got to feel it in your heart, experience it in your mind, reflect on it in your thoughts."
2. "Good poetry has great word choices - the very best. The words should impart sensory impressions that take your breath away – like when you step outside on a winter day and the wind sucks away your breath while it pelts your face with snowflakes and you feel the wind-chill factor of –20o F down into your bones. Like that."
3. "A good poem should visually arouse the reader. "What do you mean by that?" For me, it's not enough to simple write black words on white paper. I want more communication than just that. So I search for ways to visually confirm what the words are saying. I use the tools at my disposal, like different style fonts, fonts with different colors, bold print for emphasis, and small fonts for diminished restraint or quietness.
Search for words within words, like cLOUDs for the thunder and lightening in clouds. One word of caution though. Don't overdo this! It's easy to get carried away by all of these choices and do too much - like too much salt in a chicken soup or too much garlic in the spaghetti sauce. When this happens, the visually superfluous can rob the reader of the true taste and flavor of the words."
Search for words within words, like cLOUDs for the thunder and lightening in clouds. One word of caution though. Don't overdo this! It's easy to get carried away by all of these choices and do too much - like too much salt in a chicken soup or too much garlic in the spaghetti sauce. When this happens, the visually superfluous can rob the reader of the true taste and flavor of the words."
4. "A poem can be fun. Even a short limerick or nursery rhyme can make you laugh."
So, there you have it. That is what makes good poetry. Twenty-three years old and I've finally figured it out. And after reading Shel Silverstein, knowing all of these ideas, I now know (for a fact) that Where the Sidewalk Ends is good poetry. From the moment you open the book, you know you are in for a good time.The first poem invites you in. It is call "Invitation"
"If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer,
A wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er,
A magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!"
The poems are endless. The longest poem, only 24 lines, but they are all wonderful--short and witty. All of the poems end with the reader laughing. That is one reason why it is an excellent introduction of poetry for children. Silverstein hits upon 137 different topics in 137 different poems. They are all engaging topics for children. When I was reading the first paragraph of the poetry handout, I noticed right away that all of Shel Silverstein's poems did exactly what the handout said. All of his poems make you think, "Wow, I never thought of it that way", and it is in a humorous sense that we have never thought of these things in.
Silverstein gives meaning, worth, and value to all of the topics in his poems. He gives meaning to children about the idea of magic in his poem "Magic". Everyone can use magic, but you have to make magic yourself. He gives valueto hugging instead of "tugging" in "Hug O' War":
"I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins."
Children can be very rough. It is important to give valueto hugging instead of fighting. He gives worth to the flag and to colors and to being early in "Flag", "Colors", and "Early Bird". Many of these poems have little lessons in them, while they are short, funny, and entertaining to read.
Silverstein also has great word choices in his poems. Some examples are "Kerplop" in "Sky Seasoning", and many words in the sing-songy poem, "Boa Constrictor". (That poem has meaning to me. My friend's mom used to sing the "Boa Constrictor" song and act it out when I was little. I didn't realize until reading this book again that it was a Shel Silverstein poem.) Every poem has good word choice in them; I would name them all if I could.
Shel Silverstein uses different word sizes and fonts in Where the Sidewalk Ends. This makes readers emphasize some words, and pay special attention to some words. His illustrations are significant as well. They are all simple illustrations but I think that makes it more enjoyable to children. They are all very funny and children get a kick out of them because they are very ficticious. All of Silverstein's poems are very entertaining and very funny. They are perfect for children, and brilliant for adults as well. I enjoyed reading this book again, and I am going to purchase it and add it to my library. It has great worth to me thinking back to my childhood and I will continue adoring it into my adulthood.
Kaitlin,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you've chosen to cover Shel Silverstein in your post this week! He was a fixture for me during my childhood right alongside of Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Beverly Cleary. Those three authors were the cornerstone of my initial exposure to the New York Public Library, and I couldn't ever get enough of their work.
I can still remember checking out Silverstein's "A Light in the Attic" for the first time. I hadn't a clue about who he was or what he wrote, but I do remember that the book was published in 1981, the year I was born, and I often checked out books from the library just because of that special year of publication. It might sound rather odd, but I remember feeling a kinship with them, being that we were both "born" in the same year. Although "Where the Sidewalk Ends" will forever be looked upon as the defacto example of good poetry for children, I will always have a special place in my heart for "A Light in The Attic".
What I like most about Shel Silverstein is that who he was is what made his writing so special. He began writing and illustrating as a child, not because he had aspirations to one day become a famous author, but because he liked to draw and write, and besides, as he put it, he "wasn't any good at sports". It was from that early age that he began to develop the unique style that the world has come to know and love.
I think there is something to be said for this type of author from an educator's point of view. Well-rounded and experienced individuals who do little more than offer perspective and foster thoughts and ideas are often those who are found to be the best authors and illustrators. I don't think that this is a coincidence. History has shown that that the transmissionist style of teaching is wholly ineffective while more transactionist methods benefit the young minds with which we interact more universally. As we talked about before, the latter method is highly reliant on questioning; specifically helping students understand the concept of "good questioning".
I think that the "good poetry" of which you speak goes hand in hand with this concept of teaching "good questioning", because if someone's poetry is to be considered "good poetry" it must have the quality of being evocative. That is to say, if someone is reading poetry and looking for an answer, they finish reading that poetry with only more questions, which in turn allows them to arrive at an answer without one being supplied directly. This is that all important learning experience that authors such as Shel Silverstein provide so successfully; one which demonstrates fact or concept, but is also rich in self discovery.
Thank you Kaitlin for your insightful and informative post. I look forward to adapting and working with the material you've covered in my own classroom in the future.