Your Name: Sierra OHern

Date: 10/30/2014

Genre: Poetry

Literary Analysis
Bibliographic Information:
Silverstein, S. (1996). Falling up: Poems and drawings. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins.
Plot:
Tells a good story: There is not an exact plot in this collection of poetry, but most of the poems tell a
good story. All children, and adults alike, can find a poem that they would like in Shel Silversteins
collection of poems. Shel Silversteins poems tells a good story because each poem is individual and
unique.
Enjoyable: All of the poems in this book can be enjoyed by all ages. The author, Shel Silverstein, uses
humor and rhyming in a lot of his poems, which I find makes them more enjoyable.
Setting:
Location: Since this book has many poems in it, it has multiple different settings. For example, in the
poem Haunted (pg. 94), the setting is in a haunted house. Some of the settings in this book are made up
settings. For example, in the poem My Nose Garden (pg. 86), the setting is in a nose garden where instead
of flowers, there are noses growing in the garden.
Theme:
Embedded themes: It was hard for me to find themes in this book of poems. I read the poem Haunted
(pg. 94) and at first I thought its theme might be not to be scared, but at the end of the poem they decide
to go get ice cream instead of going into the haunted house. After reading this poem several times I came
to the conclusion that there wasnt a theme and that it was written for pure enjoyment. The second poem I
read, My Nose Garden (pg. 86) also did not have any theme. It is a rhyming poem with a lot of made up
words such as rowses and glowses and again is a poem for enjoyment without a particular theme.
Characterization:
Convincing characters: All of the characters in the poems are made up. For example, the character in the
poem My Nose Garden (pg. 86) is depicted through the illustrations alone. There is no mention of the
character in the text, only the drawing of a farmer holding a nose flower. The farmer is convincing
because he/she is wearing a hat, overalls and is carrying a rake. The character is convincing because it
looks like a real farmer looks. Although the poem is made up, the character is convincing because of how
the author illustrated him/her.
Style:
Appropriate: The authors style of writing is appropriate to the subject because the story is natural
flowing and easy to read. The author uses rhyming and humor in his poems which makes them more
enjoyable to the reader. The author also uses a lot of made up words, which adds to the humore of the
poems. For example, in the poem My Nose Garden (pg. 86), the author uses real words such as roses and
glows, but turns them into fake words such as rowses and glowses so they will rhyme in the poem.

Mood: The mood of this collection of poetry changes throughout the book. Some of the poems such as;
Scale (pg.12), Little Pigs Treat (pg. 13) and Wastebasket Brother (pg. 16) have an uplifting, funny and
lively mood. On the other hand, poems such as; The Deadly Eye (pg. 37), Rotten Convention (pg. 67) and
Haunted (pg. 94) have a creepy, scary and dark mood.
Point of View:
Authors choice: The author tells his poems from many points of views. Each poem is a separate piece of
literature and the author chooses what point of view he wants to use depending on the particular story he
wants to tell. For example, the poem Falling Up (pg. 7) the author uses the point of view of the person
who is falling up. Through the text, there is no indication of whether the point of view is a child, adult,
male or female. But just by looking at the illustrations it looks like the point of view is from a small child.
The dialogue, I tripped on my shoelace and I fell up - also points to the idea that it is a child. For the
poem Sybil The Magicians Last Show (pg. 66), the point of view is told from a third person. Magical
Sybil was much too cheap to buy her rabbit a carrot.
Describe Characteristics of this text specific to the genre:
Sound of the poem adds to the meaning: In the poem Haunted (pg. 94), the sound of the poem adds to its
meaning because the sound/mood of the poem is dark and creepy, which adds to the fact that this poem is
about a haunted house. For example, descriptive words such as The rotted old front door a-squeakin on
its hinges and dont step on the step thats bloody make the sound/mood of the poem scary and creepy.
Alliterations: The poem is filled with spooky alliterations such as the haunted house on howlin hill
and peek past the wormy window sill, which further adds to the spookiness of the poem.
Quality of imagination: The poem My Nose Garden (Pg. 86) would make children see something in a
fresh, new way. Most children know what a garden is, but this poem takes a fresh and humorous spin on a
garden and lets the reader imagine what it would be like to have a garden of noses. If we had a garden of
noses when they all blowses, its really a mess. The authors use of made up words to relay the message
through rhyming makes the poem entertaining and fresh.

Reflections:
My impression of this book was that it is a great book full of humorous poems that I think people
of all ages would enjoy. I personally was entertained and even laughed out loud to some of the poems by
Shel Silverstein. Although I thought his poems were great, I like the illustrations even more. All of his
drawings really made the poems come to life. The reader has to use their imagination in some of the
poems, but Shel Silverstein did a wonderful job depicting the poem through his drawings. If I had it my
way I would have all of Shel Silversteins books in my future classroom because he does a good job of
avoiding offensive expressions and avoiding stereotypes. Even though his illustrations are a little out
there, they are not offensive nor do they depict stereotyping. I think he is a fantastic writer and illustrator
and I think my future students would thoroughly enjoy all of his books.