Research Based

Poetry Project
Presented by: Alaa Osman
Grade 8
 Where the Sidewalk Ends By:
Shel Silverstein
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.
About the Poet:
Shel Silverstein

Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein (September 25, 1930 – May 10,

1999) was an American writer,  poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer,
cartoonist, screenwriter, and a children's author who is mostly known for his
children's book The Giving Tree. He has won two Grammy Awards
Although he's most known for his children's poetry, he also was good at
many other things. In the 1950s, while he was serving in the U.S. armed
forces, Silverstein drew cartoons for the Pacific Stars and Stripes, an American
military newspaper. He started writing and drawing cartoons for
Playboy magazine in 1952.  Shel Silverstein also wrote plays. It was Ursula
Nordstrom, a book editor, who suggested that he should write for children.
About 'Where the Sidewalk Ends'
In this poem, Shel Silverstein describes and conjures a place which is markedly different from anything we know in
our own, real world.
The point of the poem is to get us to reach the end of the sidewalk and discover this other world for ourselves. The
sidewalk, then, represents the grim conformity of the everyday world: a world of school and work governed by the
clock and the calendar, by the roads and the sidewalks telling us where to walk, where to drive, and where not to walk
and drive.
And if those chalk arrows also direct us somewhere, their gesturing is less a directive than a friendly tip, a wink to the
reader that another way, and another world, exist just out of sight. The fact that children know how to reach this limit
or threshold, and then to go beyond it into the magical world beyond, strongly suggests that the world Silverstein is
hinting at is one of play, imagination, and freedom, which adults tend to lose once sight of once they get too used to
sticking to the path, viewing the sidewalk as merely a means of getting from A to B.
 Title  Poet Persona  Rhyme Scheme Tone and mood 
First Person
{Us in the seventh line, we in End Rhymes; Extreme calmness,
Where the Sidewalk 
Shel Silverstein the tenth, thirteenth and End words of first stanza relaxation and at some
Ends
fourteenth lines}  White, bright, flight  point gloominess
in narrative form.

Poem in brief Growing up Stanzas: Three

Stanza and Line number  Poetry tool used  Quote  Effectiveness

Conjunction 'and' is used a

lot referring to the joyful and
Depicts the adult world as
Metaphor, saying that one stress-free world of children in
Stanza 1; Lines 3- 5 something hard and
thing is something else the first stanza and the second
demanding
and third stanza to connect the
lines with each other.
 Stanza and Line number   Poetry tool used  Quote  Effectiveness

‘s’ sound in smoke, streets and sun Emphasis on the stages of growing up. The
Stanza 1; Lines 1, 3 and 5
Metaphor ‘g’ sound in grass and grow ‘s’ and ‘p’ sounds create relaxation and a
Stanza 2; Line 3 
‘p’  sound in the peppermint wind calm effect on the reader’s mind.

Smelling of fragrant flowers and Represents the world of the imagination, a

Stanza 2; Lines 2 and 3 Imagery  peppermint and smoke; place we all can travel to no matter when or
With asphalt flowers growing everywhere where

Main Idea:  depicts the adult world as something harsh and demanding, in contrast to a more childlike mentality that can provide a
Theme: The theme expressed throughout break from the responsibilities and pressures of being an adult. The sounds, senses, and word choices within the poem build the
the poem are the differences between the contrast to a distinct level to entice the reader to let go of adulthood long enough to find a break in youthful imagination. This
adult world and the mind of a child. contrast and invitation are the key elements to the poem, and the method of delivery is too striking to overlook those concepts.
Over all reaction: Discover the way to the place where the sidewalk ends and the imagination begins.