Shel Silverstein Poems

The Little Boy

1) What is the underlying message that is being conveyed in this poem?
The little boy in the poem is very lonely, he wants the attention of the adults. During the conversation with the old man, the old man realized that he had not been paying attention the little boy as he just agreed with what the little boy said.

2) Has Shel Silverstein used any particular poetic technique that brings out this message more clearly?
Shel Silverstein has used dialogue as the poetic technique that brings out the message of the poem more clearly.


Messy Room

1)Can you say that poem is humorous. If so how?
Yes, this poem is humorous. The writer is criticized how dirty the room, how disgusting the room is and the owner of the room should be ashamed. However, it turns out that that the room actually belongs to the writer and thus he is actually criticizing himself when he did not even realized it.

2)What aspect of the human character has been highlighted in this poem?
Humans tends to be too quick to blame others when its actually you are at fault and we do not realized it.


Cloony The Clown

1) Explain the irony in this poem.
Cloony is a clown yet all the tricks he did were not funny at all. They were boring. However, one day, when he told his audience about his Pain, Rain, Cold and the Darkness of his soul, everyone laughed until they shook the trees. The story spread like fire and everybody began laughing at Cloony ''Joke'' when actually it was not what Cloony meant. He was funny just by accident.

2)Does Shel Silverstein manage to convey some harsh realities in this poem?
Yes, Shel Silverstein managed to convey the message. The harsh realities of life is that sometimes in life, our sad story could be seen as a joke to others.

3)What poetic devices has the poet used to effectively convey his message?
Poetic devices such as dialogue, rhyming patterns (a,b,a,b) and metaphors are used by the poet to effectively convey his message.