Poetry Analysis Of Us By Shel Silverstein

In the poem Us by Shel Silverstein, I believe that the author is portraying an internal battle. This poem has an ABAB rhyme scheme. The author expresses his anger, frustration, and confusion by using multiple metaphors in his poem. Between the part of himself that he used to be and the person he is now. The old Adam and the new Adam. Shel wants to be free of his old Adam. He isn’t the person he once was. He wants to be free of the person he used to be, he says this in lines 6-7 “ I wish he’d leave/so I’d be free.” The author simply is tired of who he used to be, but he deals with an internal conflict. He still feels compelled to make some of the same choices that he used to make, that’s what makes it an actual hard choice. Lines 11-13 use metaphors by when they say,” We cannot agree, /I like to dance/ He loves to ski.” This has nothing to do with the preference of dancing over skiing, they are terms loosely used so to

Throughout the poem, the author is dealing with an internal battle and is expressing showing his conflict of his old self versus his new self. The metaphors he uses show that the new him wants to be a team player while the old him wants to be by himself. Shel is getting very tired of this battle and wishes he could just be who is his now. We also see how sometimes the author still has moments where his old self takes over and he still makes some bad decisions. The author uses metaphors and ABAB rhyme pattern to get his point across. Overall, the author expresses his internal conflict in a funny and silly way. However, this doesn't mean the poem doesn't have a deeper meaning. I think everyone should read this poem. Today in society we struggle with identity. This poem shows us that people change, and sometimes our old self takes over, but we can still change and turn the negative moment positive, and at the end of the day someone has it worse than we