Reading Response on “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstien:

           

The first thing I read written by Shel Silverstien was the book, The Giving Tree when I was a little kid. After that I enjoyed the book so much, me and my dad got his collection of poems Where the Sidewalk Ends. Out of all his poems my favorite was “Where the Sidewalk Ends”. It means a lot to e and was a big part of my childhood, which is why I have chosen to annotate it and analyze it.

            The poem is about the contrast of an industrialized world and a beautiful, natural place. The first and second line “There is a place where the sidewalk ends, And before the street begins…” (Line 1 and 2) begin to describe this. The rest of the stanza, one of the literary devices he used in this poem, describes the beautiful forest type environment. But the next stanza describe the exact opposite. “Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black, And the dark street winds and bends…” (Line 7 and 8). These lines represent the dark and industrialized side of this poem.

            There is a very strong and confident tone in this poem. There is a lot of end-rhyme though out the poem. In the first stanza “…white…bright…flight…” are the rhymes. They almost enchant the poem and make this place seem even more wonderful. In the second stanza “…grow…slow…go…” are the rhymes. They do the opposite and make the industrialized environment seem worse. These end-rhymes show lots of confidence and forwardness throughout the poem.

            If I had two describe this poem, I would say it is very encouraging and thought provoking. The contrast between these two worlds, shown in the last paragraph, makes me think about what I can do to make these two worlds come together. How to take a very industrialized area and turn it into something more eco-friendly. It reminds me that we need to value our resources in the world and I understand that now more than when I was a kid.

Six Word Memoir

Live

Love

Eat

Sleep

Ride

Die

I was inspired to write this poem by the biggest things in my life. I also think of it as a time line of my life. That’s why it starts with live and ends with die because that is the life cycle and those are the two biggest things in any person’s life.

Walking Into Oblivion

I’ll walk for me.

I’ll walk for me, and only me.

I’ll walk through snow,

Rain,

Wind,

And hail,

For me.

I’ll walk away from you,

To find myself.

I’ll walk for me.

      This poem was about how sometimes people need a break from one and another, and they will just need sometime alone. I found that this poem helped me learn more about myself and then I learned more about other people.