Shel Silverstein: The Light In The Attic

Silly poems and deep, dark truths are the world of Shel Silverstein. The lights in the attic always seem to be on; however, if one takes a hard look at Silverstein’s work, one must look beyond the lights in the attic to delve through the rest of the house to come up with a whole picture of who Shel Silverstein was. As with most authors, the face put forward in public for consumption rarely matches the behind-the-scenes person who keeps personal secrets away from society. All understand this concept because everyone holds “secrets” close, never to be revealed to the world at large. As one reads Silverstein’s books, his Chicago upbringing becomes apparent. Not only are his poems timeless; his poetry delves into the world of what was important

in a middle class, urban upbringing. (1)The way Silverstein grew up shows in his writing. He might have lacked parental guidance so he relied on his writing for relief and he knew it remained a constant, sure thing, that would never leave. (2) Silverstein had many achievements throughout his life and many things that made him be noticed by the public. (3) Silverstein had always had an urge to be unaccompanied, therefore,when he had children he sent them to live with their mother until she lost a tough, long fought battle to cancer. After that, instead of being a father figure he sent them to live with an aunt and uncle, but little did he know or anyone know that his daughter was going to pass from a brain aneurysm. When she died, he was so rattled and tear-jerked that he wrote a book called “The lights in the Attic” dedicated to his deceased daughter. It shows how he was feeling and how it affected him and his writing.
One of his most distinguished books is the “The Giving Tree” it was about a boy and the more he blossoms the more he needs in his life. He takes the apples, branches, and eventually he cuts down the whole tree. The tree cares for the adolescent so it will do anything to make the boy stay content. The book is about senseless giving. The tree adored the young buck more than herself, she expressed this by giving up everything she had and was. She didn't care that in the end she was just a stump because the boy was elated. Senseless means lacking mental perception and appreciation. In other words the tree didn’t even have to think, whatever the boy wanted, if she had it, she would give it. The reader can relate this to a parent and their children because a parent will do anything to protect and care for their baby cub. They will do whatever it takes to make sure they have everything that they need if possible. Parents, like the tree will do thoughtless things so the ones they love are extremely happy. The tree is trying to comfort the boy in the only way desirable, which is to give him what he needs. Readers can make the observation that the tree is fulfilling the motherly role. Silverstein relied on his drawings and writing as something that he could always count on and give him the relief that he might have needed in hard times. Just like the boy essentially needed the tree every time he was trying to cope with life. This book could be everything that Silverstein wanted in a parent, love and care for him. In the “Giving Tree” a reader can see that the little boy is never with friends. The reader can compare this to Shel Silverstein and his writing because Silverstein is the little boy and the tree is his drawings. There's very limited information on his parents and he was constantly alone. He wasn't good at athletics and chose to stay indoors for most of his childhood indulging in his writing and drawings. He might not have chosen to be alone but he struggled with interaction and had no one that he could talk to or count on. He communicated through his books, he was in urgent need of a friend so he made the tree up. The giving tree was not the only book that pursuers see the real Silverstein in. The poem book “Where The Sidewalk Ends” has many poems that scholars see a lonesome boy in need of a companion in. “And he grew a plug that looked like a tail so we plugged in little Jim. And now instead of him watching TV We all sit around and watch him.”(29) When you read that, you can see a boy who just wants a little attention and no one is even giving him a glance. If you read it twice you see Silverstein, you see him in his house as a child just wanting some pure affection and there's no one who is showing him any true love . It is supreme to read Silverstein's poetry more than once to genuinely understand the purpose and complexity of his writing. The first read you think it's just a delightful poem, then you read it a second time and you appreciate that this is undeniably real. It is a poem, about a person, and how theyŕe really feeling through expression. A reader can see that this is how many people in the world are perceiving themselves and can see it come alive in his books. “Would you like to hear of a terrible night when I bravely fought the- No? All right”(105). He wants to tell a story, but nobody is listening, nobody cares, nobody is even mindful that he's talking. This also shows a reader that this might have been how Silverstein grew up, no one cared about him. He had to take care of himself, think for himself, fend for himself, and prosper by himself. “No one’s hangin’ stocking’s up, No one ‘s bakin’ pie, No one's looking up to see a new star in the sky” (164) . Usually when you do those things it brings you joy and happiness, but nobody is doing those things because they don't care if he’s happy or not. Christmas is supposed to be about amusement, bliss,glee, cookies, presents and being with your family, but it seems like Christmas at the Silverteins house was anything but jubilant. Digging deeper into his past about his parents you find out that Helen and Nathan Silverstein probably didn't recognize that they were not given him any or enough attention. They were living in a tiny apartment and they were trying to vacate. When the great depression came upon them it made matters worse, they were scrounging for a morsel of food every day, pushing the morsels to last as long as they could. “I'm tired of eating beans, says I, so I opened a can of sardines. But they started to squeak, hey, we’re trying’ to sleep. We were snuggled up tight till you let in the light. You big silly sap, let us finish our nap. Now close up the lid!” so that’s what I did….Will somebody please pass the beans”(54) ? Maybe Silverstein wrote this poem relating to when he was in this hard time and he was struggling with famish. His dad was working long strenuous hours, trying to make just a smidge more money so they could leave the horrible situation behind them. Although when his sister came along it got even harder to cope with old bread and beans. His dad was more and more agitated because it was just another mouth that he had to feed. In 1935 Nathans Financial situation improved greatly. They finally moved out and that's when Silverstein started going to Charles R. Darwin Elementary. Shel was not very studious, he was more of a doodler he doodled at home and school and it got in the way of his parents marriage, his dad absolutely despised that he liked to draw. It caused conflict and to avoid fighting he got immersed and deeper into his drawings. A lot of silverstein's work is very melancholy and depressing, if you read it slower and comprehend his writing it shows how he is perceived . People know that songwriters sing how theyŕe feeling but a lot of authors put pen to paper and write their emotions. Silverstein is different than most authors because he not only writes poems, but his drawings tell a story too, you have to look at it from a different point of view.. Really Silverstein wanted as much of his life to be private, but he didn't think about his writing and drawing because when you read his work Silverstein is like an open book.
Silverstein added song writing to his list of talents in the late 1950s. After that, he started recording albums. Shel Silverstein's first album, “Hairy Jazz,” had many original songs and different views of jazz standards, many of his songs, like “the Unicorn” and “Boa Constrictor”, were covered by many prodigious talented artists, such as Bobby Bare. Silverstein never limited himself; he strived for greatness and never stopped pushing to achieve it. Later in his life, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame, being inducted is just one example of how when you strive for your best you get the best. Although one might think that is a lot of weight on his back Silverstein thought that it just wasn't enough because through the 1980s, he still continued to write children's poems, write songs and when he found the time he wrote short plays that were performed in New York City. Silverstein wrote for juveniles. “for efforts in the juvenile arena, Silverstein received such honors as the William Allen White award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, School Library Journal Best Book award, and the Buckeye Children's Book Award”(Jack). Silverstein was making his name known by just being himself. He was doing what he loved to do, what he knew how to do, and what he knew children would love to read after he is long gone. “Years From Now although I can’t see your face as you flip theses poems a while, some are from some far off place. I hear you laughing and I smile” (Greene). That is, a poem from a new book called “Everything on it.” It didn't matter what he was doing, whether it was writing songs or poems, Silverstein just had an ability to capture you; to make you think about stuff that you might not of imagined you would be thinking while reading a children's poem. As a reader one might have pictured Silverstein to be very skilled when it came to education, he had to be right? No, when Silverstein was a young boy he struggled in school, he had no friends and he was a true introvert , one might think that means he focused on his school work, again the answer is no. He just liked to draw, whenever and wherever, living daily through his work was his way to get out of the real world. There are many kids with that personality at several schools. They might do different things than drawing, an example of this may be acting out in class. It's astounding to think that this famous author and songwriter used to struggle in school. When Silverstein graduated, he attended the University of Illinois then he enrolled in the Chicago College Of Performing Arts. He loved to draw, he must have known even at a young age that he wanted to do something with drawing, and he did. Even after serving in the United States Army across the seas, it didn't stop him from drawing. It might seem weird, but while fighting, he learned to play the guitar, write songs, and sing. All these songs, and all these accomplishments, all because of serving in the United States. If he didn't learn how to do these things, then all we would see Silverstein as is a writer but he is so much more. Shel opens people's eyes with his work. He makes people think about life. What could be and what could have been. He makes people wonder if his books are from what he experiences or what he wishes he could experience. He is a true author in many eyes. He struggled in school, so what. He didn't need it, he completely bypassed that. He wrote because he loved to write and that's more than what a lot of authors can say. He got a lot of these awards because people knew who deserves it. He worked impenetrable and he didn't let the war stop him from doing what he knew best. He let the war time help him. It let him experience life in ways that he had never even dreamt could be, It opened his spirit and what it was all about. He lived in the moment and took nothing for granite.. He accepted that fact that he was in war, but why not get something out of it while i'm here. The war was an experience that changed him because it made him the person, author, and songwriter that we know today. As odd as it sounds Silverstein did not set out looking for writing childrenś books, but when he entered the children's market in 1963 he made a statement. “Uncle shelby’s story of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot back.” This was just the start of his work. After that he published “The Giving Tree” in 1964. Throughout the 1960s through the 70s, Shel kept dishing out book after book. Each one better than the last. He kept busy with writing books to making albums to making adult cartoons. In the 80s he focused mostly on drama. He wrote tons and tons of short adult plays. Such as “ The Lady Or The Tiger show (1981), Wildlife (1983), The Happy Hour (1985), Wash and Dry(1989), and the collaborated with playwright-director David Mamet on the screenplay of the film Things Change, (1988)” (Jack). These are all the short plays that he did throughout the 1980s. Shel was a busy man he always kept busy. He had goals in life he wanted to see the world experience life and then maybe write about it. There was a quote that summed up what he wanted in life and it went a little like this, “he wanted to go everywhere, look and listen to everything.” Silverstein wanted to experience life, he wanted to live day by day like it was his last. Some people only do that when they know that theyŕe going to pass, but that is not how Silverstein lived at all. He put in all of the hard times, all the screaming and yelling, all the kids bullying, into his work. He wanted to show them that you do not define me. He proved them wrong. Silverstein was proud of his work because he knew that-- he put everything that he had into it. In addition to all of his work being stupefying he very much so opened up in his work, although he remained very confidential .Therefore when people say his work is stupid, non interesting, or they don't understand it, it is because they are so simple minded and envious of Shel Silverstein. They can’t fully grasp the talent and creativity of him. He’s very secretive because he’s scared that people will judge him for the person that he truly is. Unintentionally, Silverstein had revealed his true personality to the world, he had taken his work to a new level showing his emotions about his daughters unexpected death. People were so taken back by the most different, but intriguing books that they just kept reading on. With him being himself, he became a great author and songwriter, that is why he achieved these tremendous goals that only some people can even dream of having.
Many people thought that when he lost his daughter that it was the end for him writing children's books.

They assumed that he was just to emotionally unstable, they were right and wrong. When Silverstein came out with this book he made a statement saying I’m back and better than before. He used all the built up emotions while grieving his daughter, to work. He used it a inspiration. That’s when Silverstein becomes not so private with his emotions, he bluntly showed the world how angry and sad he really was. Silverstein grieved with the world and the world grieved back. People felt sorrow and some knew how he felt exactly. This just made the readers more engrossed and captured when reading “A light in the Attic”. Readers can feel the sadness through the words and pictures. There is a poem that is about a young kid and everything he touches, turns to jello, seems insistent, but that's not what it seem to be. “I tried to comb my wavy hair (slush). I took a dive into the sea (glush)- would you like to shake hands with me (sklush)”(53)?He wants the jello so swallow him up, he's got nothing left to live for, his family is gone and he can't live a normal life because when he touches you, you turn jello. If you relate this to Silverstein you can tell that he is depressed and confused with life. As for his parenting it reflects back on how he was raised. He doesn't know if there's anything left in the world for Shel Silverstein. It was tragic and so pitiful that God took his

daughter that soon but he obviously had a plan and it involved her. Shel should have realized sooner that his daughter is no longer in pain and she is in a better place with her mother .Reading this book that he dedicated to his daughter, as readers we all know it’s gonna be different then the last ones that he wrote, it might be more sentimental and more personal. “There's a light on in the attic. Though the house is dark and the shuttered. I can see a flickering flutter, and I know what it’s about. There's a light on in the attic. I can see it from the outside, and I know you’re on the inside… looking out” (7). You can interpret that by the inside looking out part. His daughter in heaven and she is looking down on him watching out making sure he's okay. After she passed he regretted never getting to know her. He learned from this and he knew he had to change. There's a quote in “a light in the attic” showing how he looks at his reflection and he doesn't like who is looking back at him. “Each time I see the upside-down Man standing in the water, I look at him and start to laugh, although I shouldn't oughtter. For maybe in another world another time another town, maybe he is right side up and I am upside down”(29). You can compare this to Michael Jackson's song “Man in the Mirror” because in one of lyrics it says “If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself, and then make a change.” Silverstein is looking in the mirror and he doesn't like the man that he has become. In the song he is trying to tell himself that he can change his ways of life if he does not like it. He's trying to get the point cross that you can change the world, all you have to do is get up and do something about it. After all that has happened to him he has changed and at first Silverstein did not like the man in the reflection for a long time. But in the same token he came to his senses and changed his ways like the lyrics in the song and became the man that he knew he was, not the man that he sadly became. Silverstein accepted the fact that he no longer had the opportunity to know who his daughter was. He lived every day for her and put how much he loved her and how much regret, pain, and sorrow took place, in the book that he dedicated to her. He wrote it to her, trying to a least say sorry and that he loved her. It not only was for her but for him, it helped him heal, it made him express himself and not bottle it all in. The book changed him, it made him realize how selfish he was acting and how much he needed to appreciate how truly blessed he was.
Diving deeper into the world of Silverstein you find out that he was an emotional man that was an amazing author, songwriter, and singer.

He lived life to the fullest and had some ups and some downs. He succeed and he failed but when he failed he learned. There are still secrets that are never to be seen but for now we know that the silly poems and deep dark truths are all true. Silverstein has more than one meaning in his work it just depends on who's reading it to truly understand what it's telling you. Everything that happened in his life affected him in his writing. Him lacking parental guidance affected him because he wanted love and nobody gave it. That’s why he resorted to his writing for care. He knew that if he needed something to count on, it was his writing. All of his achievements and failures affected him. When he failed at something he realized that he's not just gonna get stuff handed to him. He’s gonna have to work for it and get it himself. When he succeeded he learned that when you put in the work you get what you want in return. Him always being alone as a child made him want to be alone as an adult. It affected him because he wanted ninety percent of his personal life in his life not the whole worlds. This made him pull back in his writing, he wasn't writing to his full potential. He didn't want people to know his ocean deep secrets that he has sleepless nights trying to forget about. He writes about what he finds important, therefore even if he

wasn't a good author and an accomplished person he would have still drawn and wrote because it made him feel good, it took him out of the world for just a little while. It was how he got away, if he was stressing he would just write about or draw how this stress is making him feel. Not only does Shel Silverstein connect with kids but he also connects with adults. He just has that way of grabbing you up tight and he won’t let go. Each line, verse, or poem is grabbing at you. When reading his work you, you won’t want to put the book down.

Work cited
https://www.ranker.com/list/dark-shel-silverstein-stories/erin-mccann
Silverstein, Shel. The Giving Tree. (1964)
Silverstein, Shel. Where The Sidewalk Ends (1974)
Silverstein, Shel. A light in the attic (1981)
Means, Richard. "Shel Silverstein." Shel Silverstein, 8/1/2017, p. 1. EBSCOhost,
Tobin, Barbara. "SILVERSTEIN, Shel(By)." Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Letter S, p. 719. EBSCOhost,
Shel Silverstein Ewing, Jack. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2014. 3p.
McElmeel, Sharron L. Library Talk. Jan/Feb 97, vol. 10 issue 1, p16 2p. 1 Black and White photograph
Shel Silverstein’s poems live on ‘Everything’ David Greene morning edition (NPR). 09/20/2011