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 leave 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.
The poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein is a poem about a place where things are better than they are here. It's where the sidewalk ends where Silverstein says that "And there the grass grows soft and white, / And there the sun glows crimson bright" (3-4). In this place the sun is much brighter and the grass much softer and it seems to be a better place. Silverstein uses words like "peppermint wind" to show the childlike glow that this imaginary place has (6). These words are setting the mood for our imaginations to take over and think of an amazingly perfect place. Silverstein is trying to get us away from the "place where the smoke blows black / And the dark street winds and bends" (7-8). He is saying that we should free our selves from the world full of pollution and concrete and go to the beautiful place where the sidewalk ends.
The overall tone to this poem seems to be that we can be better off than we are if we just "go where the chalk white arrows go / for the children, they mark, and the children, they know" (14-15) Silverstein is encouraging us to change here and is saying that we need to have the innocence of children instead of being so corrupted. He is saying that if we could all believe in things like the sidewalk comming to an end in a magical place we would stop with so much of our polluting and watefullness. Silverstein seems to want everyone to be kids.
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15 comments:
I like how you used this poem to state the idea that there are better places than here. I agree with you, the line that you included sounded very nice and I place many of us would want to be. The peppermint wind that you quoted also added to the effect that this place is better than here. It reminds me of when I was a little kid. I agree that the poet is trying to get us away from all of our pollution and possibly our stress. I agree with you when you said that he is saying that we should be like children again and not be corrupt. Nice job and nice poem.
KYLE!
I loved how you deciphered this poem.I also liked how you said that silverstein says we should have the innocence of children i would have never thought of that.
keep up the good work!
Megan!
Kyle
This is a great poem you choose. You did a great job breaking it into all the different parts. Once I read your description I could actually begin to picture the place in my mind and smell the "peppermint wind".
GO SHEL SILVERSTEIN! WOO-HOO! Okay, seriously now, great post! Let me just say it is an honor to be the forth one to comment on your delightful blog ; ) Anywho, that was an awsome analysis of the poem, you phrased it vey well. I totally agre, not just with your analysis, but the message as well. Silverstein does seem to have a wisdom on the innocence of children, doesn't he? And when we really think about it, sometimes we NEED the "silly" hopes and dreams a child would have, in order to stimulate our minds as well as set goals for ourselves as a society. Way to make me think!
Kyle, good work on your analisys. When i first read your poem, i thought 'the end of the sidewalk' meant death. I read your analisys and then read the poem again and it seems as though you knew exactly what Silverstein was saying. I agree that Silverstein believes we need to get away to that better place at the end of the sidewalk. Maybe the poet is refrencing to heaven after death, but your analisys is plausable as well.
Kyle, thankyou so much for revewing the poem. you helped me so much. i have to do a speech on this poem and wat its about and what not and i had absolutley NO IDEA. but then i read ur thing and yeh. now i get it. :)
Shel Silverstein refers to a moon-bird in line 5.
What exactly is a "moon-bird"?
I was wondering what the reference to moon-bird meant as well. I believe Shel is referencing the 1959 academy award winning animated short movie Moonbird by John Hubley. The movie is about two small brothers going out in the middle of the night to catch the "Moonbird" in their back yard. The movie even shows a "chalk-white arrow" pointing to the cage they are enticing the bird to go into.
I am a mother of a special needs child and she was asked to do a project on this poem. She did not understand it and either did I. I am not uneducated but I am not a expert on Poems, frankly I don't like them! With that said when I googled (peppermint wind) looking for something to help her with the "props" she needed your blog came up. Thank you so much because now she and I can read this poem and understand it and you have helped us out tremendously!
I am doing an explication of this poem for my Advanced Contemporary Literature class, so I googled it so I could understand what others thought of it. I liked how you analyzed this poem, and saying that it is kind of about childlike innocence. A lot of people think that this poem is a criticism of capitalism, however I prefer to think that it is about imagination like you stated.
thank you for sharing your idea... love it :)
My class discussed this poem and a few of the children thought the end of the sidewalk implies the end of thinking in a refreshing and childlike way.
When I first read this poem it said to me that the place where the sidewalk ends is the the proverbial crossroad of life where all life's change takes place.
tank u
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