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 …show more content…
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
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
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
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.
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.
...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.
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.
“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 when an author uses vivid and descriptive language that appeal to the reader’s senses and deepen the understanding of their work and characters. Steinbeck uses imagery throughout his novel to help the reader to see in the mind’s eye the way he wants him to understand his character’s actions and behaviors. Through the examples of imagery used with Lennie and a bear, Lennie and his dog, and Candy and his dog, readers are able to picture and feel these characters the way Steinbeck envisioned
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...
Descriptive imagery is also dominant in line 29 “She clawed through bits of glass and brick,” allows the reader to vividly picture the mother frantically digging through the crumbling remains of the church in search of the daughter she holds dear to her heart. Clearly picturing the frantic mother the readers can feel how dramatic the situation is and the devastating, emotional impact it will have on the mother’s life. The descriptive imagery adds to the dramatic situation by allowing the reader to picture the mother and bu...
William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are collections of poems that utilize the imagery, instruction, and lives of children to make a larger social commentary. The use of child-centered themes in the two books allowed Blake to make a crucial commentary on his political and moral surroundings with deceptively simplistic and readable poetry. Utilizing these themes Blake criticized the church, attacking the hypocritical clergy and pointing out the ironies and cruelties found within the doctrines of organized religion. He wrote about the horrific working conditions of children as a means to magnify the inequality between the poor working class and the well to do aristocracy.
...y.” Songs of Innocence. The Literature Network. The Literature Network, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
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.
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...