Poetry Month Feature: Shel Silverstein

SUVATHINI VIJAYARATNAM & DANIYAH RIZWAN

American cartoonist, children's book author, poet, and composer Sheldon Allan Silverstein, also known as Shel Silverstein, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 25, 1930.

Silverstein began his love for drawing and writing at a very young age. In the 1950s, he enrolled at the University of Illinois to study English. He soon started creating his drawings and writing, which he later published in the Roosevelt Torch, the school newspaper.

Unfortunately, he was drafted into the army to serve in the Korean War in 1953, therefore he was unable to complete his study. While serving in Japan and Korea, Shel contributed his drawing to the military magazine Pacific Stars and Stripes. When he returned home, he submitted his work to various journals and began his career at Playboy magazine as a cartoonist and a travelling reporter.

Silverstein started to focus more on his drawings and songwriting, publishing over 11 books and 7 albums before he began writing poetry again, creating one of

his most creditable works ‘Where The Sidewalk Ends’, in 1974, a collection of poems that portrays the adult world as harsh and demanding. The audio version of the book of poems was released in 1983 and won a Grammy for Best Recording For Children in 1984. His poetry is known to be sarcastic, darkly hilarious, and filled with made-up characters. Silverstein’s book of children's poetry, ‘A Light in the Attic,’ made in 1981 also became a hit, shattering all previous records by spending 182 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Another bestseller from 1996, ‘Falling Up,’ dominated the bestseller rankings for several months. With over five million copies sold, one of his other well-known poems, ‘The Giving Tree’, a tale about a boy's everlasting friendship with a tree, has become a classic in children's literature.

On May 10, 1999, Silverstein suffered a heart attack and passed away at home in Key West, Florida. The extensive library of books and musical compositions that Shel Silverstein left behind will always be accessible to readers of all ages.