Sick Poem By Shel Silverstein

Peggy Ann McKay, the speaker of 'Sick,' does her best to convince her parents that she is much too sick to attend schoolhouse that day. Silverstein uses techniques such every bit hyperbole to make her excuses increasingly outlandish and over the meridian. The poem was meant to be enjoyed past children and adults akin, simply as is the majority of Silverstein'south work.

Sick by Shel Silverstein

Summary

'Sick' by Shel Silverstein is a lite-hearted depiction of a child who does whatsoever she can to convince her parents she can't get to school.

The poem begins with the speaker stating that she is non going to school. At that place is an endless number of reasons she supplies her parents to support her determination. These come list-like in the adjacent 30-one lines. They range from having measles to a cough and a shrunken brain. It's unclear if the child speaker knows how absurd she sounds. (But the reader should be enjoying her very funny attempts at coercion.) This is a fact that makes the verse form all the more agreeable. Especially when i gets to the end and it turns out information technology was Saturday all along.

You can read the total poem here.

Construction

'Sick' past Shel Silverstein is a thirty-two line verse form that is independent inside one block of text. The lines are structured in a particular rhyme scheme. It follows the pattern of AABBCCDD, then on, alternating end sounds as the lines progress. This blueprint is common within Silverstein'south work.

The poem was aimed at a younger audience, therefore the sing-song similar the rhythm of the lines is perfect. It is used to make the lines more than pleasing to read likewise every bit listen to. The pattern also should assist keep a child's attention for longer. He also achieves this through the humorous nature of the content. The events of the verse form should be relatable to the child hearing or reading it.

Speaker, Tone, and Mood

The speaker, who is a young girl named Peggy Ann McKay, is doing her best to figure out a way not to go to school, and as the poem progresses the number of claims of ill wellness gets more than and more outlandish. The fact that in that location are so many different things she comes up with adds to the lighthearted nature of the text. Her tone throughout the poem varies at times, with the repetition of claims of affliction, it is clear how desperate she feels to notice a way out of school.

Other times, it'due south incommunicable not to laugh at the absurdity of her claims. Information technology's unclear whether or not she realizes how her words audio, just the writer's mood is definitely lighthearted. The speaker's tone changes immediately in the last lines when she finds out that it is Saturday. Any sense of depression she might have channeled at her parents vanishes and she is gone, the monologue over.

Poetic Techniques

Although this slice was written with an audition of children in mind, there are still a number of poetic techniques that are worth taking annotation of. For case, Silverstein makes utilise of anaphora. This is a kind of repetition in which the beginning discussion or phrase in a line is repeated multiple times. It can be seen most clearly with the give-and-take "My." The discussion pops up at the beginning of thirteen of the thirty-2 lines.

"I" or "I'm" is likewise quite common. These focus the text heavily on the start-person narrator. She is consumed with her own state of being and trying to convince the listener/due south, her parent/s, that she is likewise ill to go to schoolhouse.

Alliteration is another technique that'due south used well within 'Sick.' It too helps with the flow of the text and connected engagement on the part of the reader. Lines 15, 16, and 18 are keen examples. Here, a reader will notice the phrases, " hip hurts," " abdomen push button's" and "'pendix pains." The repetition of the letter at the start of these words contributes to individual tricky phrases. Both of these techniques, and others, are used to simply enhance ane's feel when reading the text, rather than allude to deeper meanings or tap into traditions of writing.

Analysis of Sick

Lines 1-6

"I cannot become to school today!"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay
(…)
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry out
I'thou going blind in my right heart

In the starting time lines of this piece, the immature speaker begins by stating that she cannot "go to school today. There is no hesitation in this statement, nor is in that location whatever throughout the thirty-one following lines. She is adamant not to go to school and she'll do anything she can to convince her parents that she has a good reason non to become. The narrator of the poem, the person who is telling the story of Peggy Ann McKay, but speaks a few times. Otherwise, 'Sick' is a complete monologue.

The outset two things she mentions are the "measles and the mumps." They are followed by two rhyming words "A gash, a rash." These could be associated with "measles and mumps," simply to Peggy, it doesn't actually affair. The side by side lines simply build off of her first statements. She adds that her,

Mouth is wet, [her] throat is dry

[She'southward] going blind in [her] right eye.

The fact that all of these lines rhyme makes it even harder to believe what she's saying. The statements are already absurd simply the rhyming makes them seem fifty-fifty less likely if that's possible.

Lines 7-12

My tonsils are every bit large as rocks
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
(…)

My leg is cut, my eyes are blue
It might be instamatic influenza

The side by side lines contain a number of moments of repetition. The give-and-take "My" begins with 2 of the lines, and the word "And" starts ii more than. In that location are also a few dashes in this portion of 'Sick.' They are used to show pauses in the speaker's phrases and as well increment the few moments of enjambment. Such as between lines twelve and thirteen with the phrase,

My leg is cut—my eyes are bluish—

It might exist instamatic flu.

The last line utilizes the discussion "instamatic." This word is not normally associated with sickness (a result possibly of the speaker's youth) just its meaning in this context is clear. She has gotten the flu instantly, without warning. This is why her parents are merely hearing near it now. This statement comes after a number of others that claim she has enlarged tonsils, chickenpox, and a greenish face.

Lines thirteen-18

I cough and sneeze and gasp and asphyxiate
I'm sure that my left leg is bankrupt

(…)
My dorsum is wrenched, my ankle'southward sprained
My 'pendix pains each time it rains

These lines also use the word "My" a great bargain. It starts four of the lines. Its repetition helps to increase the listing-similar feel of much of 'Sick.' The speaker is going to continue making outlandish statements about her wellness until someone stops her. They come up one after another without a pause.

From line 13 to line xviii, among other things, she claims to take a coughing, a hip that hurts, a "wrenched' dorsum, and a sprained ankle. These last couple of phrases are interesting equally it's articulate she got them from those around her. The statement most the "'pendix" pain when information technology rains for example. Of the "wrenched" back. These are the pains of an older person.

Lines 19-24

My nose is common cold, my toes are numb
I have a sliver in my thumb
(…)

I call up my pilus is falling out
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight

Adjacent, the speaker states that one of the reasons she can't go to school is because her "nose is cold" and her "toes are numb." Still, this isn't plenty. She moves to her thumb, cervix, and voice. They are all pain or disabled in some way. She is barely able to speak and her "pilus is falling out."

Lines 25-31

My temperature is 108
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear
(…)

You say today is Sat? Ha-ha
One thousand'goodbye, I'm goin' out to play"

It is in the final lines of 'Sick' that Silverstein's characteristic twist ending occurs. He is known for increasing the humor of his poetry at the last moment or supplying some surprising detail that changes i'south stance of the speaker or the previous lines.

In this case, it is the speaker who is surprised. After listing out a number of other maladies, from a shrunken brain to a hangnail, she is told that it is Saturday. There was no reason for her excuses after all. This immediately makes her stop talking and she runs off to play exterior.