Where The Sidewalk End Poem Analysis

The poems “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “Escaping Reality” were composed four decades apart. They involve a speaker who is anticipating his escape from reality. They also involve a speaker’s search for a resolution through symbolism. In addition, they focus on a single theme which is despite your life responsibilities; you should use your imagination to escape when times get difficult. Furthermore, they feature the thoughts of a speaker who refers to himself in the first person perspective. The two poems emphasize a resolution by using symbolism, however; in the poem “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” the speaker happens to be more successful with portraying the symbols because of his effective usage of imagery. In “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” Shel Silverstein, an American poet, creates a poem in which the …show more content…
The speaker suddenly discovers that the journey to the end of the sidewalk is slow and marked out by arrows drawn by children because they have the closest connection to the end of the sidewalk. In “Escaping Reality,” Marcellus Watts, a fellow poet, creates a poem in which he, the speaker, expresses his emotions towards life in the first person perspective. Watts expresses that running away or leaving in the very spot he is in is not different from escaping from life itself. He yearns for a break from his cruel and relentless life. He just wants to escape the fear and depression for a moment as he hides in his fantasies until he gains reassurance of his life again. Silverstein’s speaker seems to be pondering the environment at the end of the sidewalk by imagining, “There is a place where the sidewalk ends/ And before the street begins,/And there the grass grows soft and white,/ And there the sun burns crimson bright,” (1-4). On the other hand, the speaker of “Escaping Reality” does not feel the need to paint a picture