Children's Poem

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Environmental Friendly I chose the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” by Shel Silverstein. This poem is about a young girl named Sarah who lives at home with her parents. Sarah is always asked to do many chores but the one she cannot stand is taking out the garbage. In the poem Sarah struggles with obedience of authority by not listening to her parents and learns about environment responsibility through the acts of chores. Shel Silverstein uses repetitive rhyming, flowing word play, and outstanding figurative language to describe and show the readers that Sarah will do any chore besides taking the horrid garbage because of all the disgusting trash. She will cook any meal, and even clean nasty dishes as long as she did not have to take the garbage out. Silverstein used a lot of word play in this poem and I think mostly because it makes it easier for the audience to understand and connect with the poem. This poem I chose is actually a famous children’s poem so the author makes the literary elements more comical and visual for the audience. The poet uses a lot of alliteration and some onomatopoeia. For example the stanzas “prune pits, peach pits, orange peel” (line 15) and “rubbery blubbery macaroni” (line 27). She used the alliteration of repeating the sound of the letter “p” in line 15 and then used the repetition of the ending constant “bbery” in line 27. The irony behind the repetition of “bbery” is that, that could be the sound a child makes which connects to the idea of the “helpless” child that does not want to do her chores. Some examples of onomatopoeia in this poem are “Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal” (line 16) and “Yellow lumps of cream of wheat” (line 32). These two stanzas give you a clear image of the trash in the garbage through the choice of words. This use of word play also makes the poem rhyme when being read.

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