Poem Analysis

Sick by Shel Silverstein is a poem about “little Peggy Ann McKay” who insists that she is ill to avoid going to school. Peggy rattles off a list of symptoms and diseases that only a kid would come up with. When she discovers that it is in fact Saturday she experiences a miraculous recovery. It is very much written in the voice of a child. This poem is a wonderful example of his keen understanding of children and their experience of childhood.

Anyone who was ever a child, which is everyone, remembers faking sickness to avoid a math test or a teacher they did not care for. Peggy Ann has a list of complaints that would warrant an immediate trip to the emergency room, including partial blindness and deafness, a broken leg, appendicitis and a temperature of 108. Silverstein completely captured a child’s tendency to over exaggerate and flat out lie, expecting to get away with it. Silverstein adds lovely touches like little grammatical errors (my spine ain’t straight), a slight miscomprehension of human anatomy (my hip hurts when I move my chin) and difficulty pronouncing words (my ‘pendix pains). The reader can practically hear Peggy’s voice reciting her ailments. When she realizes that she didn’t have to go to school anyway she forgets all her “troubles” and goes out to play and her fibs, as diminutive as she, are all forgiven.

The tone of this poem is very fast, and the speaker wants to you to somehow feel their "pain", or feel sorry for them. She rattles off reasons why she cannot attend school. Silvertsein uses an AABB rhyme scheme. For example, he rhymes the words "dry" and "eye", "rocks" and "pox" and so on. But the part of the poem that makes you think a little bit is at the end. After rattling off reasons why she couldn't go to school Peggy Ann McKay learns that it is Saturday, and since Saturday isn't a school day, she jumps out of bed and wants to go outside and play. This identifies with normal children behavior. Kids tend to exaggerate themselves...