Shel Silverstein: Difference between revisions
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{{
{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|''Listen to the MUSN'TS, child''
''Listen to the DON'TS''
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''ANYTHING can be.'' }}
'''Shel Silverstein''' is best known as an author of offbeat children's poetry. He also wrote picture books and song lyrics (most famously "[[Johnny Cash|A Boy Named Sue]]" and [[Dr. Hook|"The Cover of the Rolling Stone"]]). Fans of his mainstream work may be rather [[He Also Did|stunned to hear]] that many of his songs are ''very'' adult in tone, and that he personally was a real-life [[Chick Magnet]] who lived in the actual [[Playboy]] Mansion.
{{bibliography}}
* ''A Light in the Attic'' (poetry collection)
* ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' (poetry collection)
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{{creatortropes}}
* [[Abusive Parents]]:
**
{{quote|''I open my lunch box hopin’ to find a sandwich, an apple, some cookies or cake.
''But there, coiled and hissin’, and set to unwind, is another big venomous, poisonous snake,
''Slitherin’ and squirmin’ and hissin’ away, leavin’ me hungry as can be.
''It happens every single day... you think my mother’s mad at me?''}}
** In the poem "Quality Time", a father takes his son golfing... and uses him as a tee.
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: The song "Sylvia's Mother" is an [[Affectionate Parody]] of heartbroken teen love songs.
* [[
{{quote|''I told my robot to my biddin’
''He yawned and said, “You must be kiddin’.”
''I told my robot to cook me a stew.
''He said, “I got better things to do.”...''}}
* [[All Girls Like Ponies]]: The poem "Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony". Let's just say it doesn't end well.
* [[An Aesop]]: Quite often, though sometimes sliding into [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]]. For example, in "The Great Smoke Off":
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''When there's nothing left to roll."'' }}
** And another, from "Perfect High":
{{quote|''"Well, that is that," says [[Hermit Guru|Baba Fats]], sitting back down on his stone,
''Facing another thousand years of talking to God alone.
''"It seems, Lord", says Fats, "it's always the same, old men or bright-eyed youth,
''It's always easier to sell them some shit than it is to give them the truth."'' }}
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Justified in "Hungry Mungry", when Mungry starts out by eating his parents, and then proceeds to go all the way up to Class X-4 by eating up the United States, the world, the universe, and finally himself!
* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: The poem "Boa Constrictor".
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* [[Batman Gambit]]: In "A Boy Named Sue," {{spoiler|the reason the father named him that is because he knew he wouldn't always be there for his son, so he named him Sue so he would grow up hardened and strong from being bullied and picked on.}}
* [[Best Served Cold]]: The song "A Boy Named Sue".
* [[Big Eater]]: In the poem "Melinda Mae", Melinda eats a whale, but it takes her eighty-nine years.
* [[Bound and Gagged]]: The poem "Kidnapped", complete with illustration of excessively tied and chained girl.
* [[Companion Cube]]:
{{quote|''I made myself a snow ball as perfect as could be.
* [[Covers Always Lie]]: ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' has a cover drawing with two children peering over the edge of the earth - however, this is not "Where the Sidewalk Ends" - this illustration is from a different poem in the book called "Edge of the World". The actual poem about "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is about the grassy spot between the sidewalk and the street, and has no illustration in the book. ▼
''I thought I'd keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me.
''I made it some pajamas and a pillow for it's head.
''Then, last night it ran away.
''But first -- it wet the bed.''}}
▲* [[Covers Always Lie]]: ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' has a cover drawing with two children peering over the edge of the earth - however, this is not "Where the Sidewalk Ends" - this illustration is from a different poem in the book called "Edge of the World". The actual poem about "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is about the grassy spot between the sidewalk and the street, and has no illustration in the book.
* [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong]]: The poem "Complainin' Jack".
* [[Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You]]: "A Boy Named Sue".
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* [[Dead Baby Comedy]]: See [[Eats Babies]] below.
* [[Death by Gluttony]]: "Pie Problem"
* [[Death by Irony]]:
** "Fear (Barnabas Browning)"
{{quote|''Barnabas Browning was scared of drowning
** The poem "Ladies First", in which Pamela Purse is always using the title excuse for her selfishness. When the group gets caught by cannibals and are about to be eaten by the king, she still goes, "Ladies first!"▼
''So he never would swim or get into a boat
''Or take a bath or cross a moat,
''He just sat day and night
''With his door locked tight
''And the windows nailed down,
''Shaking with fear that a wave might appear,
''And cried so many tears
''That they filled up the room
''And he drowned.}}
▲** The poem "Ladies First", in which Pamela Purse is always using the
* [[Dual-Meaning Chorus]]: The song "I Got Stoned And I Missed It".
* [[Duck]]: The poem "Web-Foot Woe".
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* [[Playing Sick]]: "Sick".
* [[Posthumous Narration]]: The poem "True Story", played for laughs.
* [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]]: The image associated with "The Homework Machine" shows a child trapped inside of the eponymous machine, apparently getting the answers wrong.
* [[Prayer of Malice]]: "Prayer of the Selfish Child".
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: "Boa Constrictor".
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Shel Silverstein]]
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