Poetry+Comparison

Where the Sidewalk Ends

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, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind. Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black And the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And watch where the chalk-white arrows go To the place where the sidewalk ends. Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go, For the children, they mark, and the children, they know <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2cde1b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The place where the sidewalk ends.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sleep

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The evening hangs beneath the moon

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A silver thread on darkened dune

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">with closing eyes and resting head

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I know that sleep is coming soon

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Upon my pillow, safe in bed

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a thousand pictures fill my head

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I cannot sleep my minds a flight

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And yet my limbs seem made of lead

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If there are noises in the night

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A frightening shadow, flickering light

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then I surrender unto sleep

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where clouds of dreams give second sight

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What dreams may come both dark and deep

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of flying wings and soaring leap

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As I surrender unto sleep

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3d0eaf; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As I surrender unto sleep

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Comparison of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" to "Sleep":

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These two poems vary in their structure significantly. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" has a few different kinds of punctuation, when "Sleep" has none. "Sleep" has a few verses while, there is no spacing between lines or any verses in the other poem. I think the reason "Sleep" has lots of spacing between lines is to create pause. There is a lot of rhyming in both of the poems, more in "Where the Sidewalk Ends". In "Sleep" the two last lines are examples of repetition ; in the other poem the first and last line are pretty much the same with the exception of the words, "there is." The word 'and' is also used a lot in "Where the Sidewalk Ends." Both of the poems use lots of descriptive language which portrays a more dramatic effect.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The authors in both of the poems included many metaphors, for example, "the peppermint wind" or "a silver thread on darkened dune". One meaning the cool fresh breeze, while the other meaning a single ray of light shining in the dark. These also create imagery, which makes up the main part of most of these two poems. They use lots of words that create images in our minds, sparking more emotion for the reader and causing more of a reaction for us.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The themes in the two poems that I selected contrast quite a bit. One theme is about the last moments of someone's life, while the other is about childrens' imaginations. They relate in the way that they are both about human's dreams and thoughts. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is about children's dreams, in a happy way. They are in their ideal imaginary world. In "Sleep" the human is also dreaming but probably from the medication, they are imagining their afterlife as they are slowly fading away. "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "Sleep" are both about human's dreams of ideal worlds, one is just about the ideal world for one's afterlife.