The past couple years have been fairly unproductive for me as a writer,
but recently it seems I’m getting the knack back. I’ve spent the past
couple weeks writing a proliferation of poems as if to make up for lost
time. They’re not all masterpieces, to be sure, but it’s nice to feel
like I can write something creative again. In my quest to get my
creative juices flowing, there were two poets I knew I had to turn to
first. My college professors would perhaps shake their heads and sigh if
they knew which poets I hold in the highest esteem. We certainly never
studied them in any of the classes that led to the conferring of a
bachelor’s degree in English on lowly little me. But I have no shame in
proclaiming that aside from lyricists (and that is a rather pointless
exclusion since these two both have been occasional songwriters as well)
my favorite poets are Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky.
Silverstein seems to be the more universally known of the two. His
distinctive pen and ink style, his poignancy in works such as The Giving Tree, his contributions to the musical world with such classics as The Unicorn and I’m Being Swallowed By a Boa Constrictor,
the silliness he brought to so many poems collected in books ostensibly
for children but just as much for adults… Say the name, and most people
will know whom you’re talking about. For some reason, this doesn’t seem
to be the case with Prelutsky, though his verse is just as accomplished
and accessible. I was introduced to him at a tender age with the volume
The New Kid on the Block. It recently occurred to me that I do
not possess that seminal book, an omission I mean to rectify before too
long. In fact, I only own one collection of Prelutsky’s poems, a most
unfortunate oversight. I owe my aunt a debt of gratitude for giving me Something Big Has Been Here so many years ago. It holds a place of honor on my shelf.
I read that before Prelutsky fell into writing verse, his primary
interest was in art. Thus, it seems rather strange that his poems are
not accompanied by his own illustrations. I won’t complain, however. In
all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of Silverstein as an artist. He holds
his own, but I probably wouldn’t give his drawings a second look
independent of his writing. So maybe it’s just as well that Prelutsky
leaves the illustrations in this book to James Stevenson. They are far
more detailed and realistic than Silverstein’s drawings, and I find them
much more enjoyable to look at.
While Silverstein’s poems are occasionally serious, Prelutsky is silly across the board, at least in Something Big Has Been Here.
The books is dedicated to children’s booksellers, and he clearly had
kids in mind when choosing his subject matter. Many poems are written
from a child’s point of view, often complaining about some gross
unfairness or another. Several conclude with a twist at the end. In
addition to amusing juvenile exploits, there are plenty of unusual
animals, including some creatures Prelutsky invented himself.
When my aunt presented this book to me, she made note of several
favorites, and I admit I’m biased in their favor, particularly Belinda Blue, which describes a temper tantrum of seismic proportions that I suspect I may have at one time had myself, and The Zoo Was in an Uproar,
which features a vast cast of incensed creatures. Both are ideal
examples of the two elements, aside from rhyme, that are most prevalent
in Prelutsky’s poems: big words and alliteration. His poems roll off the
tongue. They are fun to read, and a young child reading them aloud
can’t help but feel a bit intellectual. Prelutsky was building kids’
vocabularies long before Series of Unfortunate Events was a twinkle in Daniel Handler’s eye. An excerpt to demonstrate: ”Repellant!” puled a puma, / “Bizarre!” a badger bawled, / the donkeys were disgusted, / the pandas were appalled…
My biggest complaint with Prelutsky is his almost blanket use of commas
at the end of his lines when they are often clearly uncalled for. I’m
not sure why he does this. Is it to make the poems easier for a child to
read aloud, equipped with a reminder as to when to take a breath? It
grates on me after a while, and I find myself mentally putting in the
appropriate line-end punctuation (or lack thereof). Aside from this
minor quibble, Something Big Has Been Here is a superior
collection of poems that I would recommend to elementary school students
and to older folks who still dare to admit that this stuff resonates
with them. With a hundred poems in the collection, there’s bound to be
something in there for any child. If you’re a Shel Silverstein fan, you
definitely should check out Jack Prelutsky. He may not be quite as
well-known, but he’s just as likely to inspire a love of reading in the
impressionable and imaginative minds of the young.
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