Post 5-Marge

How does rhyme shape and enhance your chosen poem?

Where the Sidewalk Ends By: Shel Silverstein
There is a place 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.

The rhyme scheme here is:

A          F         K

B          G        K

C          H        K

D          H        L

C          H

A          I 

            J

This rhyme scheme at first seems random, but it does have meaning. Since no all of the words exactly rhyme with one another, it doesn’t make the poem overwhelming with rhymes or with the same sounds. This type of rhyming does not have a name, because this is mostly random rhyming.This type of rhyming makes the poem less intense, and easier to absorb. Also,  The cool thing about this poem though, is the last stanza. Here, Silverstein takes a specific idea from the previous two statements and restates them, giving those specific ideas more emphasis. He restates the ideas: “There is a place the sidewalk ends”, “We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,”, and “And watch where the chalk-white arrows go”.  

Silverstein, Shel. "Where the Sidewalk Ends." Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems & Drawings of Shel Silverstein. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 64. Print.