Had and have
I had a thousand and one boats ,
I had a thousand and one shoes,
I had a thousand and one coats ,
I had a thousand and one kangaroos,
I had a thousand and one envelopes ,
I had a thousand and one canoe’s,
But now they are all gone,
You want to know what I do have left?
Nothing.
I had a thousand and one boats ,
I had a thousand and one shoes,
I had a thousand and one coats ,
I had a thousand and one kangaroos,
I had a thousand and one envelopes ,
I had a thousand and one canoe’s,
But now they are all gone,
You want to know what I do have left?
Nothing.
Analysis/Devices and Genre
Shel Silverstein always wrote his poems with many poetic devices and with a great signature genre. He often used the act of enumeration (Bear in There, Messy Room). His work makes you smile or even giggle, but also carries realistic meanings and life lessons.
Devices that he often liked to use were: personification, rhyme and imagery. In my poem I didn’t only try to mirror Shel Silverstein’s devices, but also his style, tone and genre. Often he writes his poems with a tone of childish and lighthearted humor. I tried to mirror this in my poem as if a child would have said it. Children are often good at making situations to seem much worse and bigger than they are, not only to others but also to themselves. I also noticed in his poems, he often likes to use an ascending climax. This I also tried to do in my own poem, you are reading and reading and have no idea what is coming and then it all of a sudden is there. Like Silverstein I made my poem silly, straight to the point and a bit strange. Unfortunately I couldn’t exactly match his hilarious silly style consisting of made up words and fun sounds, which is often compared to Dr. Suess’. Shel Silverstein would have said: I am always prepared for success, but that means I have to be prepared for failure too.