Where the Sidewalk Ends Literary Elements

Children's Poetry

Where the sidewalk ends and a city filled with smoke and noise and pollution

Some poems are told from a first person point of view; others are told from a third person point of view

Jovial, Mysterious, Inquisitive, Fun, and Magical

Each poem has a different protagonist and antagonist; some poems have neither a protagonist nor an antagonist

Each poem has different conflicts; some poems, in fact, don't have any conflict at all.

Each poem has a different climax (and some don't have a climax at all). In "The Acrobats," for example, the climax occurs as the two "fly through the breeze."

Some poems utilize foreshadowing and others do not. In "Homemade Boat," for example, the line "Since the book is totally made up of observations" foreshadows the boat sinking.

The naivete of some of the characters in the poems are often understated.

To geography and popular culture.

Silverstein uses whimsical imagery to intensify the fun and whimsical nature of the poems.

In "Homemade Boat," the boat looks "divine" yet it sinks.

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Many of Silverstein's poems use personification. In "Magic," for example, the mermaid is personified.