well, people, now you know where i get my inspiration from: idle 14th century poets and 1st grade readers!
because today i want to tell you about one of my heroes – dr. seuss: a fabulous poet, a man with passionate convictions, and a great painter. yes, he wrote children’s books. but his imagination and insight reach far, far beyond first graders (not that i mean to slight any first graders – there’s a thing or two they can teach us adults, or “obsolete children” as dr. seuss once called grown-ups).
have you ever read the lorax? even this retelling of it on wikipedia, without the poetry and without the evocative illustrations, brings tears to my eyes. it is the story of an old, lonely man who once waltzed into a small town, beautiful with trees, rivers, birds and fish, and who destroyed all of that by not listening to the voice that speaks for the environment. only, a tiny, tiny seed of hope remains …
dr. seuss, like many great artists, plays with paradox and layers and layers of meaning. and on the topic of meaning, he himself is paradoxical, too. while it is abundantly obvious that at least some of his pieces, like the lorax or yertle the turtle (and of course his political cartoons), carry strong messages about society, he has also been quoted as saying, “preachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in [dr. seuss's books]. no matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books.”
so rather than analyzing more of his work, i’ll just present some of it here to you, for you to make your own sense or nonsense of it. (and that in itself is a political statement of sorts, isn’t it? isn’t that what democracy is all about, letting people make up their own minds?)
there are troubles of more than one kind. some come from ahead and some come from behind. but i’ve bought a big bat. i’m all ready you see. now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
you have brains in your head. you have feet in your shoes. you can steer yourself in any direction you choose. .
and you know what you know. you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
think left and think right and think low and think high. oh, the things you can think up if only you try!
if you never did you should. these things are fun and fun is good
unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. it’s not.
my alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. it’s the letter i use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. you’ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond ‘z’ and start poking around!
shorth is better than length.
and the turtles, of course… all the turtles are free- as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
isabella mori
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i have been reading your old blog and new almost all morning. i won’t bore you with my details, only tell you that you gave me a little bit of peace this morning. i have a lot of figuring out to do, sounds like I need to set that goal, not be outgoaled. *sigh* glad i found the co-dependance picture. i needed to find that. and i’m hanging it on my desk to remind me. thank you.
rae
seeing that this is one of the more frequently read blog entries, i researched this oeuvre of dr. seuss some more. it seems that i didn’t quite have the correct wording. so here is the whole text:
You can
think up
some birds.
That’s what you can do.
You can think about yellow
or think about blue . . .
You can think about red.
You can think about pink.
You can think up a horse.
Oh, the THINKS you can think!
Oh, the THINKS
you can think up
if only you try!
If you try try,
you can think up
a GUFF going by.
And you don’t have to stop.
You can think about SCHLOPP.
Schlopp. Schlopp. Beautiful schlopp.
Beautiful schlopp
with a cherry on top.
You can think about gloves.
You can think about SNUVS.
You can think a long time
about snuvs and their gloves.
You can think about
Kitty O’Sullivan Krauss
in her big balloon swimming pool
over her house.
Think of black water.
Think up a white sky.
Think up a boat.
Think of BLOOGS blowing by.
You can think about Night,
a night in Na-Nupp.
The birds are asleep
and the three moons are up.
You can think about Day,
a day in Da-Dake.
The water is blue
and the birds are awake.
Think! Think and wonder.
Wonder and think.
How much water
can fifty-five elephants drink?
You can wonder . . .
How long
is the tail
of a ZONG?
There are so many THINKS
that a Thinker can think!
Would you dare
yank a tooth
of the
RINK-RINKER-FINK?
And
what would
you do
if
you met
a JIBBOO?
Oh, the THINKS
you can think!
Think of
Peter the Postman
who crosses the ice
once every day –
and on Saturdays, twice.
THINK! You can think
any THINK
that you wish . . .
Think
a race
on a horse
on a ball
with a fish!
Think of Light.
Think of Bright.
Think of
Stairs in the Night.
THINK!
Think a ship.
Think up a long trip.
Go visit the VIPPER.,
the Vipper of Vipp.
And left!
Think of Left!
And think about BEFT.
Why is it that beft
always go to the left?
And why is it
so many things
go to the Right?
You can think about THAT
until Saturday night.
Think left and think right
and think low and think high.
Oh, the THINKS you can think up if only you try!
Dr. Seuss has many dimensions I am only discovering. What many just think was a childrens book writer had so much more going on.
When I read your post, one of the things I was struck by was that this was more mature, but still have the same Dr. Seuss feel.
As I read, I felt some of the same wonder and possiblity that I did as a child reading his stories.
Thank you for sharing, and presenting more about the doc.
Mike
Do you know if Dr Seuss illustrated the books too? In addition to the writing, it is also the very distinct artwork that makes things so special.
Every christmas, we try to find the most crooked tree to put up, then we also put on a very heavy ornament to make it bend over!
thanks for the comment, @mike! yes, dr. seuss has many dimensions. did you have a chance to read my other articles on dr. seuss?
@kim, yes, he illustrated all his books. as i mentioned, he was also a painter. the painting above is one of his. there is also a great book, “the secret art of dr. seuss” that showcases his work as a painter.
He was really a great poet:)
Fredi
Yes, I love Dr Seuss as well. You have to really appreciate the imagery, and the words. His style of writing and drawing is in a world all its own.
You gotta wonder what was going on in his mind at when he was creating.
Tiffany
Hello,
Thanks for the poem – I was searching for it to post in my blog today and found your site. Rather a serendipitous find I think
Regards
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I have always thought that dr. suess was a aonderful author. But, as a kid thought his books were boring. Now, as a parent I understand better the rhyming and the repetition and what it means for a child’s vocabulary.
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I think I can remember back to before I could read, I used to look at the books and the pictures and have such a good time with them. Then I remember being read to, and memorizing the lines.
I think Green Eggs and Ham is my favorite!
Matt
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Dr Seuss has continues to be my all time favorite author into adulthood. I am now reading his works to my granddaughter
“The Lorax” and “The Sneeches”, are some of the best insights to human nature ever written yet they are lost on some.
I once used these in reference of the need to be “open minded” in a lecture I gave to a group of conservative activists. A couple of attendees commented afterward on the ridiculousness of using children’s stories as examples of how we should live. Ya just got to smile!
Roger
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the sneeches? never hear of them! that definitely goes on my list of things to read for 2009.
your experience at the lecture is amusing – on a number of different levels. smiling is probably a good reaction. sometimes it can be like trying to explain the beauty of bach’s well-tempered clavier to a tone-deaf martian : )
Oh yes, you must read the sneeches. After you read it, you’ll see how the word sneeches sounds just like the characters!
Just having finished Christmas, Im firmly reminded of Dr Seuss with How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
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okay, i’ve put the sneeches on my books to read list on shelfari
I was so pleased when Dr. Seuss’s birthday in March was celebrated with ‘Read Across America.” It was an experiment that worked and it continues to this day. Get your tall striped hat ready!
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oh, i hope to catch that this year. thanks, angela!
(i could really use a blogging calendar for this kind of thing)
A university-level friend of mine did a speech for a highschool convocation. He referred to Dr. Seuss’ book “Of the Places You will go!” The speech was a hit. As you say, adult also relate to Dr Seuss’ books. His work is the kind of thing you can refer back to and notice subtlties you missed before. Children’s stories are like that. They offer messages that can be interpreted on many levels by different age groups. Such gems!
liara, i agree with you that many children’s books offer valuable messages – as well as pure artistic enjoyment. i look at some of the children’s books i know and wonder what would happen if people would put as much care and attention to the whole book experience as children’s books do.
I didn’t think there was more to Dr. Seuss since he was a children’s book writer. I guess I will take another look.
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Wow nice poem, and nice post too! Thx.
I love that poem, thank for posting
I’m of the opinion that even back in the earlier days when it was an actual person dropping that line that it was a major league waste of time. Think about it; you spend however long in writing something of substance to only get that brief “nice post” comment; ugh! I don’t mind when I just drop a video on there that I want to share with folks, but if I’ve spent time researching something then writing about it, or have written one of my famous 2,000 word massives, I’m hoping for a little more than “nice post” whenever I’d written that beast. Of course, the spam is getting better at tricking people every day; they’re just not smart enough yet not to post the same comment on three or four posts of that same blogger.
hi sophia, and thanks for commenting.
now i DO have to ask you – why is it that the exact same comment appears in this post?
http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/2009/04/10/comment-spammers-have-turned-nice-post-into-a-spam-alert/
Your experience at the lecture is amusing – on a number of different levels. smiling is probably a good reaction. sometimes it can be like trying to explain the beauty of bach’s well-tempered clavier to a tone-deaf martian.
Green eggs and ham anyone?
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“dr. seuss, like many great artists, plays with paradox and layers and layers of meaning.” I agree it is quite astonishing how meaningful and insightful some of his stories were. It just goes to show that although he was a childeren’s author, adults also can gain knowledge from his stories.
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My daughter loves Dr. Seuss. Thanks for the post.
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