Poem Essay

Are all poems alike? It seems like an obvious answer, but it takes some thinking to explain the answer. In the two poems, "The Place Where We Are Right" by Yehuda Amichai and "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein, they have similar qualities, but for the most part are different. The utilization of imagery creates the same scene, but at the same time contradicts each other with the mood it evokes.
Imagery is an extremely powerful tool in poems. It can create a picture or a video when there are just words. In these two poems the authors incorporate imagery delicately, but with ease. Amichai uses phrases like "Is hard and trampled Like a yard" to describe the place where we are right. With this the phrase creates an image that can be connected with the poem, "Where the Sidewalk Ends".  In Silverstein's poem he uses the sentence "Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black And the dark street winds and bends," to describe the place they are coming from. Both the phrase and the sentence produced a similar image yet they are different. In Amichai's poem it is the place where they are going. In Silverstein's poem it is the place they are coming from.
Another way imagery is so powerful is that it brings about a specific mood. In both poems imagery creates the mood, but at the same time changes in a matter of one line. In Amichai's poem, the mood starts out gloomy and dark because of the imagery that is in the words, but suddenly it changes to a mood of love once the imagery changed. In the poem by Silverstein, the imagery creates a peaceful mood when it talks about the place where we are right. Once it starts to talk about the place they came from, it changes drastically to a dark and gloomy mood like the other poem.