Sick – Shel Silverstein
Shel Silverstein was a cartoonist for the military newspaper during the Korean War. After the war he went on to write well known songs for popular artist like Johnny cash and Loretta Lynn. After writing music for a while Shel met a woman named Ursula Nordstrom, a book editor, who convinced him to start writing children’s books. He later created books know across the world such as The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends. In his poem “Sick”, the theme Innocence is shown by the contribution of hyperboles, Imagery, and rhyme scheme found in his poem.
Silverstein included a vast amount of hyperboles in his poem. One example would be when the little girl says “I’m sure that my left leg is broke—“. In reality the little
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girl’s leg is just fine and is obviously over exaggerating to get out of school. The theme of innocence is open to the eye because of hyperboles used in this poem. Another hyperbole in the poem would be the title itself. “Sick”, is used to describe one of the “conditions” of the little girl in the poem has. The author clearly wanted to use the title in an ironic over exaggerate way which was brilliant on how he incorporated it. Mark Wollacott from WiseGeek stated that “Hyperbole in poetry is used to heighten emotions and is meant to be nonliteral.” What he basically says is that the literary device is meant to not be taken literal. This would be an accurate representation of how the child from the poem acts and speaks to the person she is talking to,which also contributes to the theme of innocence. One last example of an hyperbole stated in this poem would be when the child says “My pendix pains each time it rains.” It is clearly known that it is humanly impossible for such acts to happen to a person which shows how well done the theme is composed with the usage of Hyperboles.Silverstein nails the innocence of a child with all the hyperboles incorporated in this poem. One other literary device Silverstein adds to the poem would be the use of Imagery.
Throughout the entire poem Shel Silverstein uses the innocence of the little girl to create a vast amount of imagery so that the reader can understand right away what kind of person is talking in the poem and what state of mind she is. Mary Keleshian from GlemMagazine stated that in imagery it is “To describe everything is to supply a photograph in words.” This would mean that the way Silverstein add all the the imagery was done precisely and effort. The readers see all the representation of imagery in their head with all the “symptoms” she describes in the poem. The imagery also gives the reader an understanding of how the innocence shows immediately from how the girl describes all sorts of conditions she has so she won't have to go to attend school. One of the many examples of Imagery shown in the poem would be when “Sad little peggy Ann” says “ I've counted sixteen chicken pox and there's one more- that's seventeen, and don't you think my face looks green?” How the little girl describes how her face looks green gives the reader an image of a sort of cartoon sick person whose face is green. Which rubs off a little innocence to even the reader because of how well done the imagery is made. Michael Smathers from WiseGeek states that “The primary function of imagery in literature is to bring a lifelike quality to scenery, people, or circumstances.” Silverstein creates the sort of lifelike
innocence and presence of the little girl with all the imagery he inputs throughout the poem. Because of this the reader may even create an own image in his/her head of the little girl and get a better understanding of what the poem really is about. The third device found in this poem would have to be rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme can be found throughout the entire poem except when the shift takes place at the last three lines. The rhyme scheme is used to give of that child like presence which shines greatly to the theme because of the fact that most children know of poems mostly rhyming all of the time. Old Ken State Student Kathryne Bradesca states that “Rhythm creates the pattern in a line of a poem, marked by the stressed and unstressed syllables in a word.” Silverstein excels in contributing rhyme scheme to help add the theme of innocence to the readers minds. He does it by only sticking to one pattern of rhyme in the poem. The rhyme silverstein follows in this poem would be A and B. Most poets use many types of different rhyme scheme but silverstein sticks with these two to add the simplicity of a childlike figure to the reader. One example of how he uses it would be when the girl says “My mouth is wet my throat is dry, I think i'm going blind in my right eye.” It clearly shows how shel silverstein wanted to stick with the rhyme scheme of A and B. Karen Farnen from Demand Media said that “A pattern of rhyme, called a scheme, also helps establish a form.” The form stated in the poem of course is A and B throughout the entire poem. Though, towards the end of the poem when the girl finds out that it is saturday, the form completely breaks for a moment. Like stated before what took place at that moment was the shift.After the shift takes place the last three lines all end with the A rhyme scheme. Silverstein adds that to show how silly and innocent he wanted to make the child in this poem. In the end silverstein clearly wanted to create a childlike atmosphere in his poem to show the theme of innocence and how children will always be the same and act like children. With the help of the hyperpoles, Imagery, and rhyme scheme incorporated in this poem. Shel silverstein crafted a masterpiece which will be passed on from generations to generations!
In the story, "Cherry Bomb" by Maxine Clair the author uses many literary devices to characterize the adult narrator’s memories of her fifth-grade summer world. One of the literary devices used constantly in the passage was imagery. Imagery is used to give readers insight of how summer felt to the fifth-grader of the story and helps understand the tone of the adult. “Life was measured in summers then, and the expression “I am in this world, but not of it” appealed to me. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but it had just the right ring for a lofty statement I should adopt” (Line 4-7). This quote from the passage best represents how the adult memories are reflected to the summer of her fifth-grade self. This passage gives imagery to the readers of a naïve character who believes everything that is said to her. The quote also let us know that
Collier’s use of imagery in the second paragraph shows Lizabeth’s inner growth throughout the years of her becoming a young woman. “Whenever the memory of those marigolds falses across my mind, a strange nostalgia comes with it and remains long after the picture has faded.” (Collier, 2) The author uses imagery by saying the images of marigolds flashes across Lizabeth’s mind. It gives the reader insight of how the flowers are symbolic to her. To Lizabeth, the marigolds bring back the day in her life where she was no longer an innocent child. “One day returns to me with special clarity for some reason, perhaps because it was the beginning of the
Imagery is made up of the five senses, which are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. The first sense of sight is seen throughout the whole poem, specifically in the first two lines, “I had the idea of sitting still/while others rushed by.” This sight she envisions is so calm and still and the perfect example of appreciating the little things that life has to offer. Through the use of these terse statements, she allows it to have more meaning than some novels do as a whole.
“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.
Imagery is a key part of any poem or literary piece and creates an illustration in the mind of the reader by using descriptive and vivid language. Olds creates a vibrant mental picture of the couple’s surroundings, “the red tiles glinting like bent plates of blood/ the
The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed... ... middle of paper ... ... y has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed. I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed.
In the 2007 movie Sicko, Filmmaker Michael Moore examines America 's health-care crisis and why millions of citizens are without coverage. Moore spotlights the cases of several ordinary citizens whose lives have been shattered by governmental red tape, refusal of payment, and other health-care disasters. He explains how the system has become so challenging, and he visits countries where citizens receive free health care, as in Canada, France and the U.K.
During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feeling of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increase one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow. Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow about growing up, about sorrowful pretending, and even about life itself.
...yboy, he was able to touch the lives of many adults. However, more noticeably, his work affected the lives of countless children through his two collections of poetry, Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. Of the broad range of styles his work consisted, one of the most notable was the use of fantasy. In each of his poems, the Loser, Thumb Face, Warning, Squishy Touch, and Skin Stealer, Silverstein presented an illogical situation, but made it entertaining to the reader by using end rhyme, creating an amusing story, and including a vivid picture. His writing ability made his poems enjoyable for both children and adults and will continue to delight his readers for years to come.
Abstract: William Blake's Songs of Innocence contains a group of poetic works that the artist conceptualized as entering into a dialogue with each other and with the works in his companion work, Songs of Experience. He also saw each of the poems in Innocence as operating as part of an artistic whole creation that was encompassed by the poems and images on the plates he used to print these works. While Blake exercised a fanatical degree of control over his publications during his lifetime, after his death his poems became popular and were encountered without the contextual material that he intended to accompany them.
To being with, the poem “The Lamb” by William Blake fits into the category Songs of Innocence by using simplistic views and easy language. This poem is written using very simple words and English along with a rhyming scheme. For example, “Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly and bright, Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice!” (Blake, The Lamb, page 784, lines 5-8) This poem is written for children since it uses a comforting tone and an almost soothing voice. From these examples it is for an educated reason that this poem shall be placed in Songs of Innocence. Due to the fact that this poem is made for the warm hearted, and for young children this poem shows the innocence of the lamb in its entirety. Th...
William Blake is a poet and an illustrator. He is best known for two collections of poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. In the two collections there are often poems that are paired together to convey one of Blake’s five recurring themes. One of the themes Blake uses is how man is born innocent and is corrupted through experience. A pair of poems that illustrates this theme is “The Echoing Green” from Songs of Innocence and “The Garden of Love” from Songs of Experience. “The Echoing Green” portrays a child who is blissful and pure. “The Garden of love” depicts the same child who is now an adult coming back to where he used play; however, he is disheartened with the sight of corruption that he did not see as a child.
Another rhetorical strategy incorporated in the poem is imagery. There are many types of images that are in this poem. For example, the story that the young girl shares with the boy about drowning the cat is full of images for the reader to see:
...y.” Songs of Innocence. The Literature Network. The Literature Network, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults are placed in opposition of one another. Blake portrays childhood as a time of optimism and positivity, of heightened connection with the natural world, and where joy is the overpowering emotion. This joyful nature is shown in Infant Joy, where the speaker, a newborn baby, states “’I happy am,/ Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5) The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blake’s larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blake’s portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism. Blake’s child saw the most cheerful aspects of the natural wo...