"Messy Room" by Shel Silverstein - Language

Shel Silverstein’s poems are never considered too seriously and Messy Room follows that mold. Silverstein’s choice of words are simple yet descriptive. By keeping it simple and avoiding longer and more esoteric words, Silverstein gives the poem a playful attitude.

His use of rhyming words at the end of the lines also buoy that attitude. It keeps the poem, quick, simple, playful and concise. The descriptions and repetition of the line “Whosever room this is should be ashamed” builds up the irony for the poem’s conclusion where the speaker realizes that it was his own room.

Silverstein’s use of a noun with a preposition and a place creates some interesting situations that truly bring out the messiness of the room. The images are both humorous and telling. Lizards sleeping in beds and underwear on the lamps are unusual and thus hilarious to the reader. While most readers would have their own messy rooms, they hardly become like the pigsty in Silverstein’s poem.

While Messy Room can be disregarded as another silly children’s poem, it deservers another look. Even South Park conveys very deep moral messages hidden in its silly exterior of swears and vulgarity. What is the message in Messy Room? Well, it shows us how we all tend to blame others before blaming ourselves and reveals the hypocrisy in society.