The little boy and the old man - Shel Silverstein
Said the little boy," Sometimes i Drop my spoon."
Said the old man, " i do that too."
The little boy whispered, " i wet my pants."
" I do that too," laughed the old man.
Said the little boy, " i often cry."
The old man nodded, " So do I."
"But worst of all, " said the boy," it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean, " said the little old man.
My analysis:
After reading the poem, one should feel sympathetic towards both the young boy and old man as they are being neglected by the adults. The young boy does not receive the love and care which is necessary for his growth as a child, and the old man is not being taken care of in his old age, which a sign that his children are not filial and do not repay his kindness for bringing them up. To an adult, being a child is something of the past, while being an old person is of the future to an adult. But it is clearly shown in the poem that both phases of life are being neglected. Shel Sliverstein has used comparision through the conversation shared between the young boy and the old man to show that both parties are able to understand each other with just the exchange of a few simple words as they experience the same things in life.
Messy room - Shel Silverstein
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp,
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Donald or Robert or Willie or --
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh dear,
I knew it looked familiar!
My analysis:
The way in which Shel Silverstien described the messiness of the room adds a sense of humour to the poem. The poem has a lot of tongue and cheek humour. ( For your information, tongue and cheek humour refers to humour which possess sarcasm or irony.) The room is extremely filthy to the extent that everything is in the wrong places and there is even a lizard named Ed sleeping the bed. Shel Silverstien's poem encapsulates a hidden meaning regarding human nature. Human nature is quick to push the blame others, however does not hold responsibility for what he or she has done. Another factor that concerns human nature is that humans are quick to judge other people's wrongdoings and not their own mistakes. They are also unable to take care of their own belongings. Therefore this poem does have a hidden meaning, it is just there for you to spot once you have critically analysized the poem.
Cloony the clown - Shel Sliverstien
I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown
Who worked in a circus that came through town.
His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,
But he wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
He had a trombone to play loud silly tunes,
He had a green dog and a thousand balloons.
He was floppy and sloppy and skinny and tall,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
And every time he did a little trick,
Everyone felt a little sick .
And every time he told a joke,
Folks sighed as if their hearts were broke.
And every time he lost a shoe,
Everyone looked awfully blue.
And every time he stood on his head,
Everyone screamed, " Go back to bed!"
And every time he made a leap,
Everybody fell asleep.
And every time he ate his tie,
Everyone began to cry.
And Cloony could not make any money
Simply cause he was not funny.
One day he said , "I'll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown."
And he told them all why he felt so sad,'
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of the pain and the rain and cold,
He told of darkness in his soul,
After he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no
They laughed until they shook trees
With "hah-hah-hahs " and "hee-hee-hees"
They laughed with howls and yowls and shrieks,
They laughed all day, they laughed all week,
They laughed until their jackets split,
The laughter spread for miles around
To every city, every town,
Over mountains, cross the sea,
From Saint Tropez to Mun San Nee.
And soon the whole world rang with laughter,
Lasting till forever after,
While Cloony stood in the circus tent,
With his head drooped low and his shoulders bent.
And he said ,"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT-
I'M FUNNY JUST BY ACCIDENT."
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.
My analysis:
A clown usually tickles peoples funny bone by making them laugh till sides hurt by performing tricks, jokes or even some out of the world stunts. However, Cloony is obviously unable to get his audience to laugh and his is a failure at his job even though his has the right appearance, equipment and tools to be a clown simply because he is not funny. Maybe he is just inexperienced or he just does not have the potential to be a clown. He does not have the ability to infuse humour into the tricks and jokes he does. The audience are definitely bored with his acts. He is extremely depresses as he is not succeeding as a clown. He is at the point whereby he can no longer keep his emotions inside of him that he tells his audience how it feels to be an unfunny clown in the eyes of the crowd. His emotions take over and he pours everything out. There is no happiness, only darkness and sadness within his very being. Cloony expects the crowd to pity and sympathize him, to lend him a listening ear, a crying shoulder. In the end the crowd does not buy the story, as they find it too exaggerated and unbelievable. They now laugh to their heart's content and the laughter slowly spreads. They are unable to experience what Cloonry is feeling. Cloony then turns emotional and his state of depression worsened. He is upset as when he tries to make people laugh he fails to do so. However, when he does not have that intention, he makes people laugh. It is just so ironic. The poem concludes with Clooney bursting to tears as his plan to make people understand how he feels turns around and backfires, instead making people laugh. In Cloony's opinion it was just by accident. However, in my view, he was just lucky and his attempt was a fluke. Shel Sliverstein is able to convey some harsh reality about life which is people are able to accept the lies in which you portray , but very difficult to believe the truth. This is the hidden meaning which requires you to read between the lines.
Sad to say,
ReplyDeletethis 3 poems really show how ugly human are getting.
1st poem- empathy.most people lack of empthy towards others(the young & the old)
2nd poem-judgemental pride. people find it easier to find faults of others but not themselves.
3rd poem- lack of sensitivity. people often do not listen enough with their heart to hear whether is it a truth or lie, a joke or a reality fact.
i think Shel Sliverstien did a good job with this 3 poems to show how ugly the human race has become. technology may have advanced us in terms of communications. but at the same time, it bought sincere communications of the human race back to the stone age.
double edge sword isn't it?