Research Paper and Poem Analysis: Shel Silverstein
“Where the Sidewalk Ends” A poem analysis Have you ever been scared to cross the street when you were a child? Have you ever sat and stared at the paint that is on the road and wondered if that is what is keeping you safe? Shel Silverstein’s poem, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” a three stanza poem, and is in the view of a child. It is very descriptive about what the child is seeing also. I believe that Silverstein was trying to get kids to understand that the lines of the street are to protect them, and that he loved kids, because he wrote so much poetry and so many books for children. In the first stanza of “ Where the sidewalk ends,” Silverstein is explaining the scene, with nice descriptive words, “There is a place where the sidewalk ends / and before the street begins, / and there the grass grows soft and white, / and there the sun burns crimson bright, / and there the moon-bird rests from his flight / to cool in the peppermint wind” (1-6). The word choice and descriptive language definitely brought me back to a time when I was younger. Silverstein obviously didn’t follow any set rules, he made it his very own. The place I think he might be talking about is the borderline between night and day, or sun and the moon. It’s the middle of two things that are opposites. The second stanza mostly focuses on explaining that if you follow the guidelines then you will not be harmed. For example, “Past the pits where the asphalt
Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.
Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.
“It's great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn't need a shoulder? What if they need the arms or something like that? You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things,”. Children mature as they grow older. Manifestations of maturity include; overcoming adversities, perseverance, and making decisions that positively impact one’s future.
Dawe in his poem ‘Drifters’ presents the inevitable nature of change, particularly change that is unwanted. Moreover, Dawe manifests the diverse responses individuals have when encountering change in their lives and the transformative impact of change. These prominent themes are manipulated through the motif of travelling, flashbacks and symbolism.
The poem “A Story” by Li young Lee tells of a young child asking his father for story. The boy simply wants a story that he has never heard, his father is bombarded with panic as he seems to think he is disappointing his son. Through analysis of structure, points of view and metaphors this seemingly simple story is transformed into a deep meaningful poem about a complex relationship between a father and son.
The third stanza it the biggest one in terms of number of lines. It repeats the previous line scheme abcc. The narrator describes the findings at the backyard. She notes that the mother disapproves of her preference. As a restult, the mother tells her that two kids have bad futrues because of the lifestyle at the backyard. The narrator seems to ignore this and wants to continue being with "those" people.
Within the second stanza, the symbolism of black smoke, dark streets, and asphalt flowers, prompts the reader to feel smothered by urbanization and industrialization. This was most evident within the juxtaposition of asphalt and flower, which shows urbanization has gone so far whereas its replaced nature
The Minefield by Diana Thiel starts with a heartbreaking story of a young boy and his friend running between towns ends horribly when they took a short cut to find food. One of the young boys ran off ahead only to accidentally step on a landmine, taking the young boy’s life. The story was being told by a father at dinner to his family, but the father did not seem fazed by the horrific story of his friend. The narrator states throughout the poem, it seems as if the father is still living in the minefield by the anger busts and the bruises he leaves on his family. With the father’s violent outbursts and the way, the author talks about the abuse is both the father and the narrator suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The structure the author used of the poem says a lot about what the author is trying to say. As well as the words themselves. The words and the structure may cause the reader to have mixed feeling about the father throughout the poem, do you feel bad for the father for what he has been through or anger for abusing his family?
There are many forms to write a poem, and two distinct ways are as a sonnet or a villanelle. These two style of poetry have their own way in expressing the author’s message to the reader. In fact, sonnets, according to the text, are “defined as . . . lyric[s] (reference to moods and feelings) poem of fourteen lines. The sonnet will follow one or another of several set rhyme schemes. . . . [T]he sonnet came to life as a vehicle to convey love messages and passions.” By this definition, I can say that sonnets provides the poet with a tool, which they use to share a strong, emotionally based, statement.
Alice Walker: She is a poet, essay writer, and novelist. Ms. Alice was born in Eatonton GA, on February 9, 1944. She was the youngest in her family out of eight siblings. “She attended Spelman College and received a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.” She has many novels, poems, and essays which have all been translated into at least 12 different languages.
He not only went to the dance with her, but he brought her flowers the next week.
On the Subway by Sharon Olds conveys that racial prejudice shouldn’t influence you to have bad perspective for different ethnicities. The author uses imagery, metaphors, and similes to express the responses of the speaker. The poem is about a woman who is worried that she might get robbed because she looks rich, and the boy, of black ethnicity, resembles a stereotype of a mugger. The author uses imagery to describe the type of clothing the boy is wearing.
Would you be willing to give your life to protect something? In the poem, The Highwayman, a girl named Bess was captured by King George’s men. Tim the osler loved Bess, so he wanted to save her. He tried to save her, but was shot by King George’s men in the highway.
Poetry is a reduced dialect that communicates complex emotions. To comprehend the numerous implications of a ballad, perusers must analyze its words and expressing from the points of view of beat, sound, pictures, clear importance, and suggested meaning. Perusers then need to sort out reactions to the verse into a consistent, point-by-point clarification. Poetry utilizes structures and traditions to propose differential translation to words, or to summon emotive reactions. Gadgets, for example, sound similarity, similar sounding word usage, likeness in sound and cadence are at times used to accomplish musical or incantatory impacts.
Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.