Whatif By Shel Silverstein 275u17

Whatif by Shel Silverstein Content:The title of the poem ‘Whatif’ refers to the fears and paranoid questions we have at night, as we are more vulnerable. The poet combines the words ‘what’ and ‘if’ in a child-like manner. The Main theme of the poem is ‘fears of a child’. In almost every line the poet adds a new fear. He mentions numerous childish fears like the fear of failing at school, being bullied, growing green chest hair and teeth not growing straight. He also mentions fears that a human at any age can relate to such as the fear of getting sick, dying, parents getting divorced and wars breaking out. The speaker in this poem is a child, so it is something any child (also a teenager) an identify with. The tone of the poem is anxious to reflect how being afraid can shake us.

Form:The poem belongs to narrative poetry; it is long and uses personal language to describe feelings. The poem is made up of 26 lines with an almost consistent line length. They could be divided into 6 quatrains and a couplet. Alliteration is found in ‘pranced’ and ‘partied’; it reflects the pain these fears cause him. Assonance is clear in ‘I’ and ‘die’; it shows a cry inside him in fear of death. Consonance is evident in ‘never’, ‘learn’ and ‘dance’. This sound portrays some sort of whining sound inside him. Repetition resonates in the ‘whatifs’ throughout the poem. They represent the worries the child has at night.

The imagery:A kinesthetic image is found in ‘crawled’, ‘pranced’, ‘dance’ and ‘strike’; they show how shaky his fears have left him. An auditory image is clear in ‘ear’, ‘partied’, ‘sang’ and ‘cry’; they highlight how loud his fears have become. A visual image is drawn in ‘night’, ‘pool’, ‘green’ and ‘lightning’; they illustrate how young

and naïve the child is. A gustatory image is evident in ‘poison’ and ‘sick’; they show how venomous the fears are to a little child. An organic image is found in ‘thinking’, ‘dumb’, ‘die’ and ‘war’; they elaborate how terrified the child is at night.

Figures of speech:There is a metaphor in ‘some Whatifs crawled’; it compares fears to insects to portray the terrifying impact they have. Personification is clear in ‘pranced and partied’, ‘sang their same old Whatif song’ and ‘Whatifs strike again’; the fears are compared to humans to convey their strength and actuality. There is hyperbole in ‘all night long’; the night anxiety remains a part of the night then the person sleeps. There is an allusion to the two novels Inside Out and Back Again and The Diary of Anne Frank. In ‘Whatif green hair grows on my chest’ and ‘Whatif nobody likes me’, the poet discusses the fear of not fitting in. This fear has been a prominent theme in Inside Out and Back Again. In ‘Whatif I get sick and die?’, the poet alludes to The Diary of Anne Frank. In this novel, death is a constant dreadful possibility.

Symbols and motifs:The motif of the poem is distinctly ‘fears’; it is evident in the repetition of the word ‘whatif’ which refers to a new kind of fear in every new line. The symbols of fear are mentioned throughout the poem. The idea of the ‘night’, with the fears ‘crawling’ inside the child’s ear, deliver the idea. The fear of getting ‘beat up’, or accidentally drinking ‘poison’.