Share:
  Guess poet | Poets | Poets timeline | Isles | Contacts

Shel Silverstein [1930-1999] USA
Ranked #43 in the top 380 poets
Votes 91%: 3814 up, 400 down

Silly, humorous, and a little strange. His poems read like those a fourth grader would write in the back of his notebook when the teacher's eye was turned.

Read more at http://biography.yourdictionary.com/shel-silverstein#MsK0AkRptjKr8WWH.99

Children`s fiction, black comedy, songs. Never studied the poetry of others and had therefore developed his own quirky style, laid back and conversational, occasionally employing profanity and slang.

As Edwin McDowell reported in the New York Times Book Review (8 Nov 1981), Silverstein `for several years now... has refused interviews and publicity tours, and he even asked his publisher not to give out any biographical information about him.` What is known about Silverstein, however, is that he was born in Chicago (Illinois) in 1932, is divorced and has one daughter. Most of what is known about his views and opinions, aside from what may be interpreted from his works, comes from a Publisher`s Weekly (24 Feb 1975) interview with Jean F. Mercier. Silverstein discussed the roots of his career in his childhood with Mercier:

	"When I was a kid - 12, 14, around there - I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn`t play ball, I couldn`t dance... So, I started to draw and to write. I was... lucky that I didn`t have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style, I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber, a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. I never saw their work till I was around 30."

	Silverstein`s talents were already well-developed by the time he served in the US armed forces during the 1950s. He was stationed in Japan and Korea, and while in the military, he was a cartoonist for the Pacific edition of the military newspaper, Stars And Stripes. After his stint in the military, Silverstein became a cartoonist for Playboy in 1956. His work for that magazine has resulted in some published collections, such as A Playboy`s Teevee Jeebies and More Playboy`s Teevee Jeebies (Do It Yourself Dialogue for the Late Late Show).

	Silverstein did not begin writing for children until he penned Uncle Shelby`s Story of Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back, published in 1963. He confided to Mercier:

	"I never planned to write or draw for kids. It was Tomi Ungerer, a friend of mine, who insisted... practically dragged me, kicking and screaming, into  Ursula Nordstrom`s office. And she convinced me that Tomi was right, I could do children`s books."

	Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back is the story of a lion who obtains a hunter`s gun and practices until he becomes a good enough marksman to join a circus. A Publisher`s Weekly (28 Oct 1963) reviewer called the bool "a wild, free-wheeling, slangy tale that most children and many parents will enjoy immensely", and it met with moderate success, as did Silverstein`s Uncle Shelby`s A Giraffe and a Half (1964).

	But Silverstein achieved fame as a children`s writer after the publication of The Giving Tree in 1964. The book had been rejected by editor William Cole who felt that the book fell between adults` and children`s literature and would never sell. In Silverstein`s eyes it was a story about two people; one gives and the other takes. Ultimately, both adults and children embraced the book. The story of a tree that gives its shade, fruit, branches, and finally its trunk to make a little boy happy, The Giving Tree had slow sales at first, but its audience steadily grew. As Richard R. Lingeman reported in the New York Times Book Review (30 April 1978), "Many readers saw a religious symbolism in the altruistic tree; ministers preached sermons on The Giving Tree; it was discussed in Sunday schools." But feminist critics later saw something else in Silverstein`s tale; as Barbara A. Schram noted in Interracial Books for Children (Vol. 5, No. 5, 1974): "By choosing the female pronoun for the all-giving tree and the male pronoun for the all-taking boy, it is clear that the author did indeed have a prototypical master / slave relationship in mind... How frightening that little boys and girls who read The Giving Tree will encounter this glorification of female selflessness and male selfishness." Nevertheless, the book remains popular with both children and adults.

	In the late 1960s Silverstein became also known for being a composer and lyricist of songs, including "A Boy Named Sue" (sung by Johnny Cash, 1969), "One`s On The Way", "The Unicorn" (sung by the Irish Rovers), "Boa Constrictor", "So Good To So Bad", "Sylvia`s Mother" (sung by Dr. Hook, 1972), "The Great Conch Train Robbery", and "Yes, Mr. Rogers".

	Albums of Silverstein`s songs recorded by others include FREAKIN` AT THE FREAKER`S BALL  (1972), SLOPPY SECONDS  (1972), DR. HOOK  (1972) and BOBBY BARE SINGS LULLABYS, LEGENDS AND LIES (THE SONGS OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN)  (1973).

	Albums of original motion picture scores include Ned Kelly  (1970), Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?  (1971), in which Silverstein even played a role, Thieves (1977) and Postcards from the Edge (1996). Other recordings include Drain My Brain  (), Dirty Feet  (1968), Shel Silverstein (Songs And Stories)  (1978) and The Great Conch Train Robbery [] (1980).

	In 1974 Silverstein published a collection of poems for children called Where The Sidewalk Ends. Bringing him comparisons to the likes of Dr. Seuss and Edward Lear, Where The Sidewalk Ends contained humorous efforts such as "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout / Would Not Take the Garbage Out", "Dreadful" and "Band-Aids". Kay Winters lauded the author`s achievement in The Reading Teacher: "With creatures from the never-heard, Ickle Me Pickle Me, Tickle Me too, the Mustn`ts, Hector the Collector and Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (who would not take th garbage out), Silverstein`s funny bone seems to function wherever he goes." She further noted that Where The Sidewalk Ends "is an ideal book for teachers to have handy." The book has proved popular with child readers as well; it continues to sell many copies, as does Silverstein`s 1981 follow-up collection of poems, The Light In The Attic. Publisher`s Weekly called the latter book "a big, fat treasure for Silverstein devotees, with trenchant verses expressing high-flown, exhilarating nonsense as well as thoughts unexpectedly sober and even sad."

	Silverstein`s 1976 picture book, The Missing Piece, like The Giving Tree, was subject to varying interpretations. It chronicles the adventures of a circle with a wedge of itself missing, who goes along singing and searching for that missing part. But after the circle finds the right wedge, he decides he was happier on the search - without the missing piece - than he is with it. As Anne Roiphe explained in The New York Times Book Review (2 May 1976), The Missing Piece can be read in the same way as "the fellow at the singles bar explaining why life is better if you don`t commit yourself to anyone for too long - the line goes that too much togetherness turns people into bores - that creativity is preserved by freedom to explore from one relationship to another... This fable can also be interpreted to mean that no one should try to find all the answers, no one should hope to fill all the hopes in themselves, achieve total transcendental harmony or psychic order because a person without a search, loose ends, internal conflicts and external goals becomes to smooth to enjoy or know what`s going on. Too much satisfaction blocks exchange with the outside." Silverstein published a sequel, The Missing Piece Meets The Big O, in 1981. The latter book is told from the missing piece`s point of view; as in the original, the book`s protagonist discovers the value of self-sufficiency. A new book for children, Falling Up, was published in 1996. Silverstein illustrates his own books with black-and-white line drawings. Being himself a book collector, he takes the feel and look - the paper, the type, the binding - of his titles very seriously. He does not allow his books to be published in paperback. But this hasn`t hurt his popularity: Silverstein has 14 million copies in print.

	Since 1981, Silverstein has concentrated on writing plays for adults. One of his best known, The Lady or the Tiger Show (1981), about a television producer who goes to unbelievable lengths to get his ratings up, has been performed on its own and in a group of one-acts entitled Wild Life (1983). Silverstein has also collaborated on the screenplay Things Change (1988) with playwright David Mamet.

	Shel Silverstein died on 10 May 1999 from a heart attack.

Children, Humour, Nonsense



WorkLangRating
The Giving Tree
eng
123
Twistable Turnable Man
eng
104
Bear In There
eng
97
The Perfect High
eng
58
A Boy Named Sue
eng
37
Rosalie`s Good Eats Cafe
eng
35
Enter This Deserted House
eng
30
Dentist Dan
eng
25
Messy Room
eng
22
In Search Of Cinderella
eng
19
The Meehoo With An Exactlywatt
eng
18
Hug O`War
eng
16
Listen To The Mustn`ts
eng
14
Mermaid
eng
14
Whatif
eng
14
God`s Wheel
eng
10
Point Of View
eng
9
Recipe For A Hippopotamus
eng
9
Crowded Tub
eng
8
Stupid Pencil Maker
eng
8
Tryin` On Clothes
eng
8
Snowball
eng
7
The Little Boy And The Old Man
eng
7
Ticklish Tom
eng
7
Cloony The Clown
eng
6
AntEater
eng
5
Sick
eng
5
Colors
eng
4
It`s Dark In Here
eng
4
Picture Puzzle Piece
eng
4
Someone Ate The Baby
eng
4
Sylvia`s Mother
eng
4
The Nap Taker
eng
4
Clarence
eng
3
Danny O`Dare
eng
3
Double-Tail Dog
eng
3
Father Of A Boy Named Sue
eng
3
Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony
eng
3
No Difference
eng
3
The Smoke Off
eng
3
100,000 Pennies
eng
2
Boa Constrictor
eng
2
Dreadful
eng
2
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too
eng
2
Invitation
eng
2
Never
eng
2
Quaaludes Again
eng
2
Rain
eng
2
Sarah Cynthia Slyvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out
eng
2
Somebody Has To
eng
2
The Sitter
eng
2
The Unicorn
eng
2
Toplesstown
eng
2
Where The Sidewalk Ends
eng
2
Ations
eng
1
Better Not Ask Me
eng
1
Bury Me In My Shades
eng
1
Captain Hook
eng
1
Channels
eng
1
Cloudy Sky
eng
1
Come Skating
eng
1
Dance To It
eng
1
Drain My Brain
eng
1
Eight Balloons
eng
1
For Sale
eng
1
Freakin’ At The Freaker’s Ball
eng
1
Friendship
eng
1
Goodnight Little Houseplant
eng
1
How Many, How Much
eng
1
I Can’t Touch The Sun
eng
1
Loser
eng
1
Me-Stew
eng
1
Put Something In
eng
1
Reflection
eng
1
Smoke Off
eng
1
Something Missing
eng
1
Stop Thief!
eng
1
The Bear, The Fire, And The Snow
eng
1
The Great Conch Train Robbery
eng
1
The Hunter
eng
1
The Loser
eng
1
Weird-Bird
eng
1
Who does she think she is....
eng
1
25 Minutes To Go
eng
0
A Couple More Years
eng
0
A Front Row Seat To Hear Ole Johnny Sing
eng
0
A Light In The Attic
eng
0
Acapulco Goldie
eng
0
Alimony
eng
0
All About You
eng
0
All The Time In The World
eng
0
Aphrodisiac
eng
0
Batty
eng
0
Beans Taste Fine
eng
0
Bigtime
eng
0
Bituminous?
eng
0
Bubblin` Up
eng
0
Changing Of The Seasons
eng
0
Come After Jinny
eng
0
Crocodile`s Toothache
eng
0
Crouchin’ On The Outside
eng
0
Daddy What If?
eng
0
Daylight Dreamer
eng
0
Diet Song
eng
0
Dirty Ol’ Me
eng
0
Don`t Give A Dose To The One You Love Most
eng
0
Everybody`s Makin` It Big But Me
eng
0
Examination
eng
0
Floobie Doobie Doo
eng
0
Folk Singer`s Blues
eng
0
For What She Had Done
eng
0
Forgotten Language
eng
0
Grizzly Bear
eng
0
Gumeye Ball
eng
0
Hamlet As Told On The Street
eng
0
Handy Man
eng
0
Hard To Please
eng
0
Hector The Collector
eng
0
Helping
eng
0
Hey Nelly Nelly
eng
0
Hippo`s Hope
eng
0
Homemade Boat
eng
0
Hoodoo Voodoo Lady
eng
0
I Call That True Love
eng
0
I Got Stoned And I Missed It
eng
0
I Know You Little, I Love You Lots
eng
0
I Once Knew A Woman
eng
0
If I Had A Brontosaurus
eng
0
If The World Was Crazy
eng
0
In The Hills Of Shiloh
eng
0
I`m My Own Grandpa
eng
0
I`ve Been Working So Hard
eng
0
I’m So Good That I Don’t Have To Brag
eng
0
Jimmy Jet And His TV Set
eng
0
Joey
eng
0
Judy
eng
0
Kick It Again
eng
0
Kiss It Away
eng
0
Ladies First
eng
0
Lady Godiva
eng
0
Lazy Jane
eng
0
Lemmebesomethin’
eng
0
Liberated Lady 1999
eng
0
Little Green Buttons
eng
0
Lookin’ For Myself
eng
0
Love
eng
0
Lydia Pinkham
eng
0
Magic
eng
0
Magical Eraser
eng
0
Makin` It Natural
eng
0
Mama I`ll Sing One For You
eng
0
Man Who Got No Sign
eng
0
Marie Laveau
eng
0
Masochistic Baby
eng
0
Melinda Mae
eng
0
Merry
eng
0
Modern Talk
eng
0
Morgan’s Curse
eng
0
My Beard
eng
0
My Mind Keeps Movin’
eng
0
My Rules
eng
0
Never Bite A Married Woman On The Thigh
eng
0
No Thank You
eng
0
On The Way To The Bottom
eng
0
One Inch Tall
eng
0
Paranoid
eng
0
Pathetic Way Of Getting Over Me
eng
0
Paul Bunyan
eng
0
Peace Proposal
eng
0
Peanut-Butter Sandwich
eng
0
Plastic
eng
0
Polly In A Porny
eng
0
Pour Me Another Tequila Sheila
eng
0
Ring Of Grass
eng
0
Rock `N` Roll Band
eng
0
Runny’s Heading Rabits
eng
0
Scum Of The Earth
eng
0
Shadow Race
eng
0
She’s My Ever Lovin’ Machine
eng
0
Show It At The Beach
eng
0
Sing Me A Rainbow
eng
0
Skin Stealer
eng
0
Sky Seasoning
eng
0
Smart
eng
0
Somebody Stole My Rig
eng
0
Someday’s Here
eng
0
Son Of A Scoundrel
eng
0
Stacy Brown Got Two
eng
0
Strange Restaurant
eng
0
Sure Hit Songwriter’s Pen
eng
0
Tell Me
eng
0
Testing The Bomb
eng
0
The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No
eng
0
The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan
eng
0
The Boa Constrictor Song
eng
0
The Bridge
eng
0
The Dragon Of Grindly Grun
eng
0
The Generals
eng
0
The Land Of Happy
eng
0
The Monkey
eng
0
The Oak and the Rose
eng
0
The Perfect Wave
eng
0
The Toucan
eng
0
The Voice
eng
0
The Winner
eng
0
The Worlds Greatest Smoke Off
eng
0
They Held Me Down
eng
0
They`ve Put A Brassiere On A Camel
eng
0
Three-Legged Man
eng
0
Thumbs
eng
0
Thumbsucker
eng
0
Time
eng
0
Turkey?
eng
0
Ugliest Man In Town
eng
0
Vegematic
eng
0
Vegetables
eng
0
Warning
eng
0
Wavy
eng
0
When She Cries
eng
0
Who`s Taller?
eng
0
Workin’ It Out
eng
0
Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda
eng
0
Your Time`s Comin`
eng
0
Yowzah
eng
0
Zebra Question
eng
0

The script ran 0.006 seconds.