Where
the Sidewalk Ends
By Shel
Silverstein
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
Let us
have this place where the smoke blows
black
And the dark street winds and bends
Past the
pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall
walk with a walk that is measured and slow
And watch where the
chalk-white arrows go
To the
place where the sidewalk ends
Yes, we’ll
walk with a walk that is measured and
slow,
And
we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows
go,
For the
children, they mark, and the children they know
The place where the sidewalk ends
Analysis
of the Poem
“Where the Sidewalk
Ends”
This poem is written by Shel Silverstein. He was born into a Jewish family on September
25, 1930, in Chicago. He was an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author
of children's books. His book was translated
into more than 30 languages. It has sold over 20 million copies. In 1984,
Silverstein won a Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album for Where the Sidewalk End. Shel
Silverstein passed away on May 10, 1999, from a heart attack in Key West,
Florida.
The setting
of the poem takes place in two different locations. The first location takes
place in the area called where the
sidewalk ends. It is a beautiful place that is described by nice things,
such as the grass grows
soft and white, the sun burns crimson bright, the moon-bird rests from his flight, and the peppermint wind. We can see in the second stanza that is
described by telling about the air pollution. It shows the place of industrial
area which has bad condition that is expressed by the words the smoke blows black, the dark street, and the asphalt flowers. The time of this
poem occur in a day when the sunset is coming because of the words the sun burns crimson bright. Crimson is
a colour when the sun has been disappearing.
In
this poem, I use the anapest as the meter of the first stanza which is a foot
of three syllables, stressing on the last one. On the second and third stanza,
I use the dactyl which is reverse of the anapest and the stressed syllable
placed before the two unstressed syllable.
The pattern of the rhyme sounds in each line of this
poem is different. From the first stanza, in the end of the line, it expresses
the words “ends” [e], “begins”
[ɪ], “white” [aɪ], “bright” [aɪ],
“flight” [aɪ], and “wind” [ɪ]. It shows that the first stanza use the rhyme
scheme “ABCCCB.” The second stanza, in
the end of the line is represented by the words “black” [æ], “bends” [e], “grow”
[əʊ], “slow” [əʊ], “go” [əʊ],
and “ends” [e]. The pattern of the rhyme in this stanza
is “DAFFFA.” In the last stanza, there are four lines, which is in the end of
the line it shows the words “slow” [əʊ], “go” [əʊ], “know” [əʊ] and “ends”
[e]. This
last stanza also has the different rhyme scheme of the each lines, the pattern is ‘FFFA”. From the
explanation, this poem doesn’t use the definite rhyme. The pattern of the rhyme
in each line of the whole poem is different, but it has the similarity between
the first line and the last line, as follows
“A – B – C – C - C – B – D – A – F – F – F – A – F – F – A.”
The repetition of the words where the sidewalk ends, is used
in
every stanza to emphasize the main topic of this poem. It has the function to
remain the reader about the place called sidewalk
ends. He also repeats the words the
chalk-white arrows go and
walk with a walk that is measured and slow in the second and third stanza.
By all means, he convinces the reader about the direction to the sidewalk ends
without any doubt.
This
poem uses visual imagery. The
writer tries to make us imagine how the place is with our visual sense. He
describes the concrete things about the irony between the first stanza and the
second stanza. The first stanza tells us about the description of the place
that equal with the title of this poem, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”. It explains
about the childhood that full of happiness and beautiful condition without
contaminating bad things. The writer persuades us to imagine about the place of
the sidewalk ends. It is filled with many things that most of children like it,
such as the bright sun, the soft grass, and the peppermint wind. The opposite
view comes from the second stanza. It shows the darkness imagery of the
condition that far from the sidewalk. The writer tried to compare that the
place of the second stanza is full of the pollution and there are no happiness
in adult life. They live in the crowded place with many factories, industrial
area, and distressing business. It also reminds us to look for the place that
can make our mind to be fresh. The last stanza ensures that the adults will go to the place slowly and
rest for a while from their distressing life. They will follow the direction to
the place of happiness and pleasure. The last line shows that the children will
be a guide, because they know the way where the end of the sidewalk is.
The writer of
this poem uses some figurative language, such as metaphor, personification, and
symbol. From the first stanza, the writer uses comparison to compare the place
of the sidewalk ends with many beautiful things. The writer uses metaphor to
make the readers imagine how the condition of the place is. In the second
stanza, the writer uses metaphor too.
The writer expresses the contrary between first stanza and second stanza.
He describes a place with the comparison of many dark things. Personification
found in the words the
chalk-white arrows go and the
smoke blows black. The writer makes the chalk and the smoke seem like they
are alive and do the things like the creatures usually do. The writer uses symbols in this poem. The sidewalk is represent of the
joyful place that the children usually spend their childhood for playing.
The tone of this poem is
different for each stanza. The clues of the tone can be seen on the poem above,
which is written by the bold font. The first stanza shows that the tone is
joyfull, satisfy, and pleasant. It is different with the second stanza. The
tone is contrary which is tells about the unpleasant condition, but there is a
willingness to go to the joyfull place “sidewalk
ends”. The last stanza expresses about conviction and optimistic that the
sidewalk is the best place to go. It is strengthened by the words ” Yes, we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow”.
The central idea of this
poem is about the representative of the childhood’s life that is very
enjoyable. The environment in the childhood’s life is friendly, it’s not like
the environment in the adult’s life that is full of the air pollution and crowded.
The writer tries to remain us, as the adults to rest for a while from the
distressing life. He persuades the reader to remember the happiness life of the
children.
Based on
this poem, I can learn that as a human, we should keep our environment from the
pollution. The children can teach
us about the happiness and cheerful. I think the writer concerned about the
condition of that time that it was not as joyful as the condition when he was a
child. Actually,
this is the same as my condition. When I was a child, i can feel the fresh air,
the nice weather, and friendly environment. I could be happy even if it was
just playing with my friends in the favorit place in my village. I could be
pleasant without thinking any problems of life. For the time being, as an
adult, I feel I ‘ve lost the condition where my environment is not like my
childhood. It is filled with the air pollution and the trees is very rare,
because my neighboors often cut down the trees to expand their houses.
Sometimes, I remember my childhood that is fulled of happines and I want to go
to the place as like as where the
sidewalk ends.
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| Silverstein's signature |
