What was Shel Silverstein’s childhood like? While Shel Silverstein is primarily known to the world as a poet, cartoonist, and songwriter, his beginnings were much more humble. Born in Chicago in 1930, Silverstein enjoyed a seemingly normal childhood that would shape and influence his later works.
Regarding Silverstein’s early life, Dr. Jill Entringer, an expert on Silverstein and English professor at the University of Chicago, comments: “Shel Silverstein grew up in an upper-middle-class, Jewish immigrant family in 1930s and 40s Chicago…His mother was a progressive socialist who ran a small grocery store.. A largely self-taught artist, he preferred spending time with his friends on the streets, or in the city’s various parks getting into ‘mischief,’ as he called it, rather than in school.”
Silverstein was certainly no stranger to the bustling city of Chicago and its inventive street life during this era. While his parents encouraged him to attend college, Shel resisted and found satisfaction in the wonders of the city, becoming a part of its voice. Patty Turner, a librarian at the University of Chicago, explains: “During his school years, Silverstein drew pictures and made stories constantly, cutting classes to explore Chicago and its vibrant culture. He would often find himself at Bughouse Square, the city’s well-known soapbox public speaking forum of the 1920s, gathering inspiration for his own works. Though he ultimately decided to continue his studies for a time in the Fine Arts program at the nearby University of Illinois, his time here was quickly cut short as he determined he was better off as a self-taught artist and writer”
Silverstein’s passion for the city’s local culture continued to influence him throughout his life beyond his educational experiences. He traveled the world, leading an armada of writers with his mischievous stories and steadfast determination. That same childlike wit and spirit that thrived within the city limits is still seen in his published works today.
How Shel Silverstein Developed his Innovative Style
Silverstein developed an unusual writing style as he sought to honor the playful attitude of childhood while conveying an adult perspective in a lighthearted way. Himself an artist, Silverstein was inspired by the plethora of visual art and literature around him. He was eager to find the necessary balance of intellect and simplicity while saturating each of his works with infectious humor.
Though he had little formal training as an artist, Silverstein eventually developed a collage-style approach to his works by putting type, illustration, and photo together in a harmonious design. His unique use of text and illustration, which he found difficult to perfect, was a large part of what made his work so distinct.
Dr. Entringer explains: “Silverstein refined his art over the years and his work would feature the same playful style… He produced a body of work to which millions of readers could relate.” Silverstein thought it was important to find the humor in life, and in finding that, allow his readers to see nonsensical ideas from a new perspective.
Silverstein’s Work Reflects His Childhood Years
Silverstein’s works, often filled with wry puns, offbeat observations, and ridiculous characters, strongly reflect his own sense of wonder and “mischievousness” found during childhood years. It is clear then that Silverstein’s literature and fine art was deeply rooted in his childhood experiences and the colorful city life of Chicago.
For Silverstein, childhood had what he called an “invisible, unmarked border” and it was his mission to attempt to honor that in his writing. His children’s books, the most famous being Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, were relatively short, often with minimal text, a series of illustrations, and a touch of whimsy that allowed readers to imagine, dream, and laugh in the process.
silverstein’s mission to create a playful type of literature ran deep in his heart and he personally spoke of a duty as a writer. He viewed this duty not as one of help or prophesy, but as something that opened up the imaginations of children and adults alike. For this reason, he was able to curate a body of works that resonates with readers even today, decades after his death.
Shel Silverstein’s Later Career
Shel Silverstein continued to rise in acclaim throughout the later years of his career until his death in 1999, earning the Newberry Award for the Giving Tree and publishing posthumously collections such as Every Thing On It (2009) and Remembering the Sterns (2000). His influence still carries through many of the leading figures in literature today, who unanimously point back to him as a major source of inspiration.
Notably, Silverstein’s later works became increasingly more political in nature. He used his writing to comment on sensitive issues such as the Vietnam War, racism, and theological concern over human rights. However, while they explored such potent issues, they did so in creative and accessible ways that allowed readers to truly engage with the stories and think critically.
Street culture also continued to play an important role in Silversteins’s works. He felt that anyone could take an ordinary thing and express a mundane object in unexpected ways – one only need look a bit harder. This sense of surprise and joy he managed to capture in a poem as short as one line, such as “Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be” (Listen to the Mustn’ts).
Shel Silverstein’s Final Years
In his later years, as Silverstein looked back on his body of work, he realized that his childhood years had been a key source of inspiration. His vivid memories of life in a rowdy city and the consistent thrill of discovering the next great idea were driving forces behind his desire to explore the unpredictable parts of life.
In the last fifteen years of his life, Silverstein began to suffer from depression and remained reclusive. While his later works declined in quality, the literary yearning that motivated him to pursue his creative dreams never ceased to exist. Ultimately, Silverstein felt a moral responsibility to curate content that could ultimately bring a sense of wonder to a world so easily consumed by cynicism.
After drifting through a sea of jobs, relationships, and publishing success, Silverstein came to recognize an essential truth in life: creativity was the countervailing force of the everyday life. Silverstein’s childhood, then, is the foundation for recognizing our own inner child. That the silliness and playfulness of childhood need not be left behind and can instead be used as part of an adult life — a life of wonder and of adventure.
Shel Silverstein as a Role Model
Shel Silverstein’s childhood acts as an emblem for the pursuit of creativity and the exploration of life’s possibilities. He served as one of the most revered role models of creative freedom, encouraging the ingenuity and playfulness of a child while respectively recognizing the realities of adult life. His poetry, art, and music managed to capture the world in a more humanistic light and during a period of immense chaos, he provided a space of escapism and comfort.
Silverstein transcended the boundaries of genres in literature by trying something entirely new — literature that combined beauty, humor, and quirk. In this way, he established himself as a revolutionary pioneer, showing the world that something can still be light and funny,
