10 of the Best Shel Silverstein Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Shel Silverstein (1930-99) was a popular American poet, cartoonist, musician, singer-songwriter, and man of many artistic talents. His most enduring poems are those which he wrote for younger readers. Given how popular his poems for children became, the story of how he came to write children’s poetry is somewhat surprising.

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A Summary and Analysis of Shel Silverstein’s ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ is probably the best-known poem by Shel Silverstein. A popular poem for children, it was first published in 1974. The poem describes a hidden other world which lies between the sidewalk and the street: a world which children know how to find, where things are somewhat different from our world.

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