"The Dirtiest Man in the World" by Shel Silverstein
Oh, I'm Dirty Dan, the world's dirtiest man,
I never have taken a shower.
I can't see my shirt--it's so covered with dirt,
And my ears have enough to grow flowers.
But the water is either a little too hot,
Or else it's a little too cold.
I'm musty and dusty and patchy and scratchy
And mangy and covered with mold.
But the water is always a little too hot,
Or else it's a little too cold. I live in a pen with five hogs and a hen
And three squizzly lizards who creep in
My bed, and they itch as I squirm, and I twitch
In the cruddy old sheets that I sleep in. In you looked down my throat with a flashlight, you'd note
That my insides are coated with rust.
I creak when I walk and I squeak when I talk,
And each time I sneeze I blow dust. The thought of a towel and soap makes me howl,
And when people have something to tell me
They don't come and tell it--they stand back and yell it.
I think they're afraid they might smell me. The bedbugs that leap on me sing me to sleep,
And the garbage flies buzz me awake.
They're the best friends I've found and I fear they might drown
So I never go too near a lake. Each evening at nine I sit down to dine
With the termites who live in my chair,
And I joke with the bats and have intimate chats
With the cooties who crawl in my hair. I'd brighten my life if I just found a wife,
But I fear that will never be
Until I can find a girl, gentle and kind,
With a beautiful face and a sensitive mind,
Who sparkles and twinkles and glistens and shines--
And who's almost as dirty as me.
Shel Silverstein was born on September 25, 1930, in Chicago. Silverstein studied music and established himself as a musician and composer, writing songs including “A Boy Named Sue,” popularized by Johnny Cash, and Loretta Lynn’s “One’s on the Way.” Besides being wildly popular, The Giving Tree is one of the most discussed children’s books of all time. When the 1970s came to an end, Silverstein would continue releasing memorable children’s titles, among them A Light in the Attic (1981), a collection of poems and drawings, which went on to win several awards, and The Missing Piece Meets the Big O (1981), a sequel to The Missing Piece.
A hyperbole is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect. In this poem Silverstein over exaggerates how dirty he is to make it seem as if he was never cleaned himself.
In the poem Silverstein talks about being extremely dirty and not being able to see his shirt. He lives the in the most grotesque place ever, in a pen with hens and pigs. When people want to talk to him they keel their distance and shout out what they have to say. No one wants to be around him since he has poor hygiene, but he could care less. He loves himself for who he is.
I chose this photo of Oscar the Grouch because he lives in a trashcan, and he also has poor hygiene. Oscar does not care what people think, he does what he likes which is living with garbage. It makes him so do what makes you happy.