Interpreting A Poem.

Previously, I talked about one of my favorite poems, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. This poem meant a lot to me over the years because it always brought me back to my elementary school days. But now that I am in my last year of high school, what better than to dissect the poem into its literary analysis? 


The speaker is most likely the author himself, but his audience is included in the poem by using words, such as "we'll" or "we". He speaks from a universal standpoint in order to capture the main idea of it all. The structure is set up into three different stanzas that include some sort of rhyme scheme. There is a repetition in the phrase, "Where the sidewalk ends...", which is a sense of imagery about the central theme. The grammar is just basically colloquial and structured to form into the poem.


There are many important images the author portrays throughout the poem as an indication for the main theme. One of these is referring to the paradise we should all dream of: "And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright". It paints a picture of what life should really be like if we were all free from the stresses of life. We also can see the darker side of reality from this: "Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow..." Like stated beforehand, the most important words are the ones repeated, "Where the sidewalk ends". It ties in all of the examples back to the point of where we want to get in the poem. 

The overall tone to this poem is optimistic despite where our circumstances are in the time being. He is idealistic in the sense that he believes we, as a whole, can go beyond our imaginations and create a better world for our future. His diction and tone contribute to the light side of the wish for a greater place than what we know. The prosody (the way the words and flow combine to emphasize the structure and theme) is playful in the sense that this author intends this piece to be one for all ages. The wishful thinking for a better tomorrow makes it more open to everyone than other poems.