James Ross Robinson
10/13/2014
English 102
Mrs. Windsor

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends is a poem wrote by poet and musician Shel Silverstein. Silverstein was born in September, 1930 in Chicago. At the age of 20 he enlisted in the United States Army serving in both Korea and Japan. During his time in service he wrote cartoons for the famous Stars and Stripes magazine. It wasn’t until the late 1950’s to mid 1970’s when Silverstein gained national recognition for his cartoons in Playboy magazine. In 1963 Silverstein teamed up with Ursula Nordstrom a book editor who persuaded him to start writing material for children. As the 1960’s ended and the 70’s began Silverstein composed songs such as “A Boy Named Sue” made popular by the famous musician Johnny Cash. Although he had a very successful career doing other things it was his poems written in both 1974 and 1976, Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Missing Piece making him a famous children’s author. In 1999 after a long and successful career Shel Silverstein passed away at the age of 69 in Key West, Florida.

Where the Sidewalk Ends was wrote telling us to allow our past to be left behind and move into the future. As adults we forget how to be free spirited and full of optimism. I myself often wish things in life could have been different, for instance obtaining a college degree right after high school. Our lives are often stressful, we can have good days and bad ones. Silverstein uses many passages throughout this poem telling us to live like a child, “For the children, they mark, and the children, they know where the sidewalk ends”. This poem could have several meanings, someone optimistic would think the meaning would be perhaps explore the woods and get off the normal path and take the beaten one. This poem contains many uses of symbolism, the first is usage of rhyming