Smart

Smart

By Shel Silverstein

My dad gave me one dollar bill
‘Cause I’m his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
‘Cause two is more then one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes– I guess he didn’t know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just ‘cause he can’t see

He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head–
Too proud of me to speak!

Summary of Smart

• Popularity of “Smart”: The poem ‘Smart’ was written by Shel Silverstein, an American writer, activist, cartoonist, children writer, lyricist, and poet. This interesting piece about a child’s innocent cleverness first appeared in 1974 in his book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. The poem’s beauty is derived from the child’s innocence, as he portrays himself as intelligent without grasping the underlying enigma of human dealings.
• “Smart” As a Representative of a Child’s Smartness and Innocence: The poet starts the poem with the boy saying that when his father gave him a one-dollar note, making him very happy. He believed that his father regarded him as his intelligent and sharp-witted son. Then he continued to trade the dollar with Lou and Bates to make them more than one; possibly two and three. With Lou, he has had three dimes and with blind Bates, he doubled them. However, when it comes to Hiram Coombs in his store, he got five pennies. He thought himself smart for having taken a lot of coins in return for a single dollar. However, his father got angry, though the boy did not understand. He was rather thinking that his father was proud of him.
• Major Themes in “Smart”: Innocence, pride, and childhood pranks are three major themes of this poem. Although the boy thinks that he is a smart one and that his father is proud of him, he does not understand that his father is angry at him for being too smart. He could not sense that his father was proud of him for not losing. In the end, however, it seems that several people have played pranks with the child.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used In Smart

literary devices bring beauty and the enchantment of meanings in the poems. Shel Silverstein has also used some literary devices in this poem, whose analysis is as follows.

1. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “And I went and showed my dad” and the sound of /ee/ in “Too proud of me to speak”.
2. Alliteration: The poem shows the use of alliteration in the shape of initial consonant sounds of the neighboring words, such as the sound of /b/ in “bloody boot” and the sound of /h/ in “And closed his eyes and shook his head”.
3. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /l/ in “My dad gave me one dollar bill” and the sound of /t/ in “And I swapped it for two shiny quarters”.
4. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,

And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head–
Too proud of me to speak!

5. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Shel Silverstein used imagery in this poem such as “For three dimes – I guess he didn’t know”, “And I took the nickles to Hiram Coombs” and “And I went and showed my dad.”
6. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of symbols such as quarters, shiny quarters, dimes, and pennies to show the smartness of the boy.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Smart

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Diction and Tone: The poem shows the use of colloquial diction with a serious and interesting tone.
2. Rhyming Scheme: The poem shows ABCBDEDEFG in both of the stanzas.
3. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. The poem has two stanzas with each having 10 verses.

Quotes to be Used

These lines from “Smart” are appropriate to quote about the significance of innocence in life.

And five is more than four!
And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head–
Too proud of me to speak!