The Life, the Ideas, and the Works of Shel Silverstein

735 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: essay on shel silverstein

“Anything is possible, anything can be”, says Shel Silverstein, who undoubtedly believed that anything was possible. Shel Silverstein was a poet, but he was more than just that. He was also a musician, a composer, and a cartoonist (biography.com). Though he was all of those things, he was best known for his writings and poetry. Silverstein was able to share his life, what he felt, and what he thought through his work.

With “his unique imagination and bold brand of humor”, Sheldon Alan Silverstein is one of the most famous and well-known American poets (poets.org). Silverstein, born in Chicago on September 25, 1930 died when he was 68 years old from a heart attack in May 1999 (poets.org). Silverstein joined the army and when his time was up, he decided to become a cartoonist for a magazine. Afterwards, he went on to compose music, but finally realized writing stories and poems was where he belonged (biography.com). One of Shel Silverstein’s most famous books, The Giving Tree, has been translated into over 30 different languages and has touched the hearts of not only children, but also adults all over the world (biography.com). Silverstein was a talented and an exhilarating writer (poemhunter.com). Where the Sidewalk Ends provides an excellent example of Silverstein’s fresh style and carefree outlook. It could be compared to his contemporaries like Theodore Geisel and Edward Lear, which contained lighthearted and amusing efforts (poemhunter.com). On the outside, Shel Silverstein might have been happy and silly, but he had experienced tragedy and sadness from the deaths of his wife and eleven year old daughter (thefamouspeople.com). Even though Shel Silverstein “never planned to write or draw for kids”, his legacy is perpetuated t...

... middle of paper ...

...raphy of Sheldon Allan Silverstein. "The Biography of Sheldon Allan Silverstein." Poemhunter.com. N.p., 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

"Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back." - PoetrySoup. N.p., 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.

"The One, the Only, Shel Silverstein." StudyMode. N.p., 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.

"Shel Silverstein Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.

"Shel Silverstein." Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

"Shel Silverstein." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

"Shel Silverstein Quotes." Shel Silverstein Quotes (Author of Where the Sidewalk Ends) (page 2 of 5). N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Where the Sidewalk Ends Analysis." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.
"Where the Sidewalk Ends." Www.poets.org. HarperCollins, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Elie Wiesel's Night

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Elie Wiesel quotes." Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia. 7 Mar. 2011 .

    Read More

  • August Wilson's Fences

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shmoop Editorial Team. "Fences Title." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Life of Alan Shapiro and Analysis of “Country Western Singer”

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alan Shapiro was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 18th, 1952. He is the son of Harold and Marilyn Shapiro. Growing up Shapiro was a part of a Jewish household. Shapiro received his education at Brandies University. While attending Brandies University he discovered that his one and only passion was for the astounding art of poetry and he found an escape from all the devastating disasters he encountered in his youth (Garbett). Shapiro is also now an educator at Stanford University and he has also worked at Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As Shapiro conveys in many of his works after researching Shapiro’s life it is known Shapiro’s brother and sister both died of cancer while Shapiro was very young, and these events highly contribute to Shapiro’s work as a poet. The memoir that Shapiro wrote which was entitled Vigil is about the tragic death of his sister due to the unfortunate events of being diagnosed with breast cancer. As it is well known Shapiro’s poems are very tragic and sorrowfully oriented it is no fault to say that different people happen to react and cope with death in different ways and Shapiro expresses his sadnes...

    Read More

  • "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" Analysis

    2233 Words  | 5 Pages

    Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, documents the author's discovery of her own and her father's homosexuality. The book touches upon many themes, including, but not limited to, the following: sexual orientation, family relationships, and suicide. Unlike most autobiographical works, Bechdel uses the comics graphic medium to tell her story. By close-reading or carefully analyzing pages fourteen through seventeen in Fun Home one can get a better understanding of how a Bechdel employs words and graphic devices to render specific events. One can also see how the specific content of the pages thematically connects to the book as a whole. As we will see, this portion of the book echoes the strained relationship between Bruce Bechdel and his family and his attempts to disguise his homosexuality by creating the image of an ideal family, themes which are prevalent throughout the rest of the nook.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Where The Sidewalk Ends By Shel Silverstein

    149 Words  | 1 Pages

    Where the Sidewalk Ends is written by Shel Silverstein. Where the Sidewalk Ends is written on 1974. Shel wrote this poem in the literature fiction. I thought that the poem “Where the Sidewalk Ends” was a great poem because it talked about a sidewalk that ends at some place. Some of the literary devices that were in the poem was and, the, and walk. Some of the rhyme devices that were in the poem as well was walk, chalk, his, and is. My opinion of the poem was that I thought it was very weird to see a very long sidewalk (Shel Silverstein Poems). I was very surprised to see that the sidewalk was long. One thing I did not understand was how there was a very long sidewalk. One other poem that Shel Silverstein wrote was “Messy Room” and it was very

    Read More

  • The Magician of Drollery: Ogden Nash

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ogden Nash is a great American author, best known for his “pithy and funny light verse” (“Ogden Biography” 1). New York Times refers to him as America’s “best-known producer of humorous poetry” due to his buffoonery verse style. Born in the August of 1902 in Rye, New York as a child he moved often due to his father’s exporting-importing company (1). After completing high school at St. George’s School he attended Harvard University unfortunately quitting a year later. Reflecting on better times, Nash taught at his previous high school but left less than a year later, with little success in establishing another job (2) (“Ogden Nash” 1-2). Nash tried many different careers throughout the next decade finally finding success as a poetic advisor at Doubleday publishing house. Advertising gave him the opportunity to explore various styles of writing where he eventually came up with his own unique style. During this period he moved to Baltimore, the place he ultimately considered his home, married Francis Leonard and promoted from the market department to the editorial department at Doubleday (“Ogden Nash” 1-3).

    Read More

  • Theodore Geisel's Emergence as Dr. Seuss

    3876 Words  | 8 Pages

    Through over forty-two books Dr. Seuss has been able to encourage children to seek delight in reading and has opened the minds of successive generations. He designed books that inspire children to learn through entertainment, by providing according to Steven Brezzo, Director of the San Diego Museum of Art, "a fantastic refuge of wacky characters, convoluted logic, and silly vocabulary." The accomplishments of Dr. Seuss are far-ranging: not only did he resurrect the pleasure of reading for children, and inspire them to think creatively, but he taught many a moral lesson to us during what researchers have discovered are our most formative years. We have learned tolerance and consideration, individuality and compromise, and even morality concerning the ideology of nuclear armament(The Butter Battle Book, 1984) and materialistic society's effect upon the natural world(The Lorax, 1971). These lessons were often taught subtly, subconsciously embracing our young psyche, for as children Dr. Seuss was primarily a wonderful synonym for fanciful adventures that showed us a life we could create beyond reality, where having fun was paramount. For many ...

    Read More

  • Everett Ruess: A Vagabond For Beauty

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Everett was strange, “Sleight concedes. “kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (67) John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, briefly makes a comparison between two young boys Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess and fills the reader with different perspectives about them and their experiences. While the author wrote about McCandless he is reminded of Ruess and his book Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty written by W.L. Rusho and it sparked an interesting comparison between the two. The use of storytelling and letters about McCandless and the use of Artwork, letters,

    Read More

  • Dr. Seuss Biography

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Born and raised in Springfield Massachusetts, Theodor Geisel was born on March 2nd 1904. Under the pen-name Dr. Seuss, Ted was able to accomplish his dream of becoming a writer after attending Dartmouth College and wrote for the school paper – the Jack-O-Lantern. Upon graduation, Geisel went to Oxford in which he received a PhD in English Literature and was inspired to become an English teacher and writer. Some of Dr. Seuss’s works include Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, and The Cat in the Hat. Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Seuss earned three Academy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, as well as numerous degrees and other awards. Dr. Seuss was not only a highly acclaimed children’s book writer as he is popularly known to be, but also, Ted Geisel is known for his work during the WWII era. He created hundreds of political cartoons in which he gave a voice to his views on topics such as war bonds and the war itself. Ted Geisel is an author who successfully revolutionized the way children read books through the creation of new “seussical” words, interesting rhyme scheme, as well as stories with meanings far beyond what they seem to represent at first glance. Geisel was able to enlist the help of the majority of the United States in WWII through the publication of cartoons and movies.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Humor In Art Spiegelman's Maus

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the audience is led through a very emotional story of a Holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with the author, who is his son, and his wife. Throughout this novel, the audience constantly is reminded of how horrific the Holocaust was to the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the novel finds very effective ways to insert forms of humor in the inner story and outer story of Maus. Although the Holocaust has a heart wrenching effect on the novel as a whole, the effective use of humor allows for the story to become slightly less severe and a more tolerable read.

    Read More

  • The Aftermath of the Holocaust in Art Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    By means of comic illustration and parody, Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about the lives of his parents, Vladek and Anja, before and during the Holocaust. Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II delves into the emotional struggle he faced as a result of his father’s failure to recover from the trauma he suffered during the Holocaust. In the novel, Vladek’s inability to cope with the horrors he faced while imprisoned, along with his wife’s tragic death, causes him to become emotionally detached from his son, Art. Consequently, Vladek hinders Art’s emotional growth. However, Art overcomes the emotional trauma his father instilled in him through his writing.

    Read More

  • Charlotte’s Web, Goblin Market, and The Secret Garden

    2618 Words  | 6 Pages

    Instructor’s comment: This student’s essay performs the admirable trick of being both intensely personal and intelligently literary. While using children’s literature to reflect on what she lost in growing up, she shows in the grace of her language that she has gained something as well: an intelligent understanding of what in childhood is worth reclaiming. We all should make the effort to find our inner child

    Read More

  • The Life and Works of Shel Silverstein

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    “If you are a dreamer, come in” (Silverstein 9). The opening line in Where the Sidewalk Ends, the first book in his popular trilogy, Shel Silverstein offers the reader a seat by his fire and a few tales to hear. He sets out his theme, for this book and others, of adventure, imagination and creativity. Silverstein’s style of poetry is often referred to as peculiar or unconventional. Each of his poems, though off the wall, has an underlying message or advice on life, love, school, family and many other topics. Shel Silverstein teaches his readers life lessons through his quirky and eccentric poems.

    Read More

  • Inside the Head of Allen Ginsberg

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    A very well known and unusual poet of the early 1960's Allen Ginsberg captured many supporters and friends with his literary works. Allen Ginsberg led a very atypical life, and his poems reflect his lifestyle and the lifestyle of those who influenced him. Allen's work is a reflection of his life experiences, the vast influences of his family and friends formed him into the superior poet he was.

    Read More

  • The Chicago Seven Trial

    1645 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... middle of paper ... ... The. N. p. : University of Chicago Press, 2009.

    Read More

More about The Life, the Ideas, and the Works of Shel Silverstein

Open Document