Favourite poem

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.

Figurative language
There are actually many types of figurative language namely, hyperbole, personification, metaphor, simile and symbolism. In this case there is no hyperbole involved but there are some personification here. For example "the dark street winds and bends", "smoke blows black", "where the chalk white arrows go" The writer probaly used this figurative language so as to try to add some life to the poem by making some of the actions carried out by non - living things seem like it is carried out by humans. Instead of saying the dark street was curvy, the writer uses a verb and says it winds and bends.

The next figurative languaage is a metaphor. Here are a few examples from the poem, "peppermint wind", "crimson bright", "soft and white". The writer used this as something like a gauge. For example "peppermint wind", it is actually trying to show just how cool the wind was, as cool as peppermint. Also it desribed how bright the sun was and how supple the grass were. As for the figurative language simile, it is just like metaphor except it must be linked to the word with "as... as...". So in this case there is no simile.

The last figurative language is symbolism which is the most complicating of them, it is actually a phrase or a word that symbolizes emtion, thing, etc. (Not to be confused with metaphor.) Some examples of symbolism would be "asphalt flowers", "chalk - white arrows". The asphalt flowers, which is the road, symbolizes just how ridden of nature the city is and the chalk white arrows, the white strips on the road, also mean the same thing.

Why I like this poem
Firstly I like this poem as there is a lot of interpreting that had to be done while reading the poem. Also it seemed to carry a message unlike the other the poems which was to save the beauty of nature. Also the way they conveyed this message was really elegent where they first start of by describing all the beautiful things about nature, of the birds, greenery and the sun. Then they move on to describe how gloomy the city is by talking about how sad the people are by their footstep and artificial flowers (asphalt flowers). The title was also very catchy and also required a lot of thinking to actually figure out what it meant. All in all the reason why I liked the poem is because there had to be a lot of thinking unlike other poems which were pretty staright foward.