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CB - VIII - Eng - The Unicorn

The document is about Shel Silverstein's poem "The Unicorn". It recounts the story told in the poem through a series of summaries for each stanza. The poem is about why there are no more unicorns in the world - it describes how unicorns existed long ago with many other animals, but were too busy playing when Noah was collecting animals for his ark, and so they did not make it onboard before the flood waters came and carried them away.

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4K views16 pages

CB - VIII - Eng - The Unicorn

The document is about Shel Silverstein's poem "The Unicorn". It recounts the story told in the poem through a series of summaries for each stanza. The poem is about why there are no more unicorns in the world - it describes how unicorns existed long ago with many other animals, but were too busy playing when Noah was collecting animals for his ark, and so they did not make it onboard before the flood waters came and carried them away.

Uploaded by

ahanafdo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 16

Subject: English

Topic: The Unicorn

Grade: VIII

CB/VIII/2122 The Unicorn 1 of 16


CB/VIII/2122 The Unicorn 2 of 16
Sheldon Allan Silverstein was an American
writer, poet, cartoonist, songwriter and
playwright. He is known for his cartoons,
songs, and children's books. He styled himself
as Uncle Shelby in some works. His books have
been translated into more than 30 languages
and have sold more than 20 million copies.

Shel Silverstein
(1930–1999)

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Summary of Stanza 1

A long time ago, when the earth was green


and there was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen,
and they run around free while the world was bein' born,
and the lovliest of all was the Unicorn.

The poet tells the tale of the lovely unicorns that existed long time ago
when the earth was green.
He says that there many kinds of animals that you could ever imagine.
They were free and running around when the world was being born.
He says that the unicorn was the loveliest of all animals.

CB/VIII/2122 The Unicorn 4 of 16


Summary of Stanza 2
There was green alligators and long-neck geese.
There was humpy bumpy camels and chimpanzees.
There was cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
the loveliest of all was the Unicorn.

The poet says that there were green alligators and geese with long necks
everywhere.
There were humpy camels and chimpanzees too everywhere.
There were cats, rats and elephants everywhere but the unicorns were
the loveliest of all animals.

CB/VIII/2122 The Unicorn 5 of 16


Summary of Stanza 3
But the Lord seen some sinnin', and it caused him pain.
He says, 'Stand back, I'm gonna make it rain.'
He says, 'Hey Brother Noah, I'll tell ya whatcha do.
Go and build me a floatin' zoo.

But the Lord was in a lot of pain to see his people sinning.
God decided to make it rain for a very long time i.e. forty days and nights
and destroy the Earth.
God told Noah to build an Ark or a floating zoo in which a pair of each kind
of animal would be housed.

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Summary of Stanza 4
And you take two alligators and a couple of geese,
two humpy bumpy camels and two chimpanzees.
Take two cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're
born,
Noah, don't you forget my Unicorn.'

The Lord told Noah to take a couple of geese, camels,


chimpanzees, cats, rats and elephants in the ark but not to
forget his unicorn.

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Summary of Stanza 5
Now Noah was there, he answered the callin'
and he finished up the ark just as the rain was fallin'.
He marched in the animals two by two,
and he called out as they went through,

Noah build the ark as the Lord commanded and he completed the task
and it started to rain heavily
Noah marched the animals into the ark two by two and he called out as
they went into the ark

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Summary of Stanza 6
'Hey Lord, I got your two alligators and your couple of geese,
your humpy bumpy camels and your chimpanzees.
Got your cats and rats and elephants - but Lord, I'm so
forlorn
'cause I just don't see no Unicorn.'
Noah tells the Lord that he managed to get two green alligators, geese,
humpy bumpy camels, chimpanzees, cats, rats and elephants on board the
ark.
But Noah tells the Lord he couldn’t see the unicorn.

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Summary of Stanza 7
Ol' Noah looked out through the drivin' rain
but the Unicorns were hidin', playin' silly games.
They were kickin' and splashin' in the misty morn,
oh them silly Unicorns.

When the Lord commanded Noah to build his ark and it was time to set
sail, the unicorns were off frolicking in the water enjoying themselves,
ignoring Noah's calls.

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Summary of Stanza 8
The goat started goatin', and the snake started snakin',
the elephant started elephantin', and the boat started shaking'.
The mouse started squeakin', and the lion started roarin',
and everyone's abourd but the Unicorn.

The poet says that goats, snakes and elephants boarded the ark. Even the
mouse and the lion boarded the ark except the unicorn.

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Summary of Stanza 9
There as green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, "Close the door because the rain is falling
And we just can't wait for no unicorns"

There were green alligators, long-necked geese, some humpy bumpy


camels and some chimpanzees on board.
Noah said loudly that they needed to close the doors as it was raining
heavily and they could no longer wait for the unicorns to come on
board.

CB/VIII/2122 The Unicorn 12 of 16


Summary of Stanza 10
The ark started moving, and drifting with the tide
The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
That's why you never see a unicorn to this very day

The ark started moving and drifting along with the tide.
The unicorns saw the ark moving from the rocks and cried but the waters
came down and they floated away.
As we know, the unicorns never made it on board, so we don't see them
around anymore.

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Summary of Stanza 11
You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorns.

The poet says that you will see green alligators and geese with long necks
everywhere.
Some humpy camels and chimpanzees , some cats, rats and elephants
but the unicorns were nowhere to be seen.
They could not get on board the ark.

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Summary of the poem

This poem is about why there are no Unicorns on the Earth. Shel thought
that they didn't go on Noah's ark because they were silly.
The whole poem shows imagery. It feels like you can visualize the whole
thing! Words like "He (Noah) marched in the animals two by two" makes
you see Noah bring the animals two by two into his ark. This poem is an
allusion, because it refers to Noah's Ark, but Shel adds things like the
Unicorn into it too.

. The mood begins kind of happy but starts to become a little sad because
God didn't want Noah to forget the Unicorns, but because of the flood
they couldn't wait for them.

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Poetry Analysis

In the poem, there are rhyming patterns. Each stanza is aabb, which
makes the poem sound good. One time Shel used alliteration for the
words "bein' born".
There are no patterns in the syllables. Also, the poem repeats words
such as green alligators, long neck geese, humpy bumpy camels,
chimpanzees, etc. are in most stanzas.
Shel did this to prove a point that there are so many animals in the
world but there are no Unicorns. The poem's diction was different, for
example every time Shel had a word that ended in "ing", he would
remove the "g" such as in "sinnin', hidin', kickin', etc."
He did this so the poem sounds more fluent, and to make the poem
easier to read, since there are so many words that were supposed to
end in "ing".

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