Bear In There

Bear In There: analysis

Introduction

"Bear In There" is a short nonsense poem from Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic. The speaker says a polar bear lives inside the family fridge. The bear sits in the food, eats everything, and roars when anyone opens the door.

The poem is built for reading aloud. It has quick rhymes, a bouncing beat and a list of messy eating. It turns an everyday kitchen object into a place of comic danger.

Summary

The poem is a single stanza of 17 lines. In lines 1 to 3, the speaker announces that a polar bear is living in "our Frigidaire." The reason is simple: "He likes it 'cause it's cold in there."

In lines 4 to 7, the speaker describes where the bear is sitting. His seat is "in the meat" and his face is "in the fish." His "big hairy paws" are in the butter dish.

In lines 8 to 11, the speaker lists what the bear is doing. He is nibbling noodles and munching rice. He is slurping soda and licking the ice.

In lines 12 to 13, the speaker gives a warning. The bear "lets out a roar" if anyone opens the fridge door. In lines 14 to 17, the speaker admits that knowing the bear is there "gives me a scare." The poem ends by naming him again, now as "That Polary Bear" in "our Fridgitydaire."

Themes and meaning

The main idea is imagination at work in ordinary places. A fridge is one of the most familiar things in a home. The poem fills it with a wild animal. The logic is childlike but neat: polar bears like the cold, and a fridge is cold.

A second idea is the pleasure of mess and appetite. The bear sits right in the food and eats whatever he likes. The verbs "nibbling," "munching," "slurping" and "licking" are all about eating. The bear does what a hungry child might wish to do at the open fridge.

A third idea is a small, playful fear. The bear "lets out a roar" if you open the door. The speaker says it "gives me a scare." The fear is safe and funny, like a game of pretend.

Some readers look for a hidden meaning. The bear can be read as a feeling shut away that keeps feeding and growing. The text does not insist on this. On the page, it works first as a comic picture.

Tone

The tone is playful and a little breathless. The speaker reports the bear as plain fact: "There's a Polar Bear." The dash after "Frigidaire" in line 2 adds a pause, as if for effect.

The list in the middle is lively and gleeful. Each line starts with "He's" and a new eating verb. The rhythm speeds up like someone excited to tell the story.

Near the end the tone turns mock-serious. The line "it gives me a scare" sounds like a real worry. Then the stretched words "Polary" and "Fridgitydaire" make the scare silly again. The speaker enjoys the fright more than they suffer from it.

Form and structure

The poem is one stanza of 17 lines. The lines are very short, running from 3 to 8 syllables. Most have two strong beats. Many follow a skipping pattern of two light syllables before each stress, as in "With his seat in the meat." This is a loose anapestic rhythm, and it gives the poem its bounce.

The rhymes come quickly. The shared sound of "Bear," "Frigidaire" and "there" opens and closes the poem. In between come pairs such as "fish" and "dish," "rice" and "ice," and "roar" and "door." The last lines rhyme together on the same sound as the first, framing the poem.

Poetic devices

rhyme line 3

He likes it 'cause it's cold in there. The word "there" completes the rhyme with "Bear" and "Frigidaire." The triple rhyme sets up the sound that returns at the end.

internal rhyme line 4

With his seat in the meat The words "seat" and "meat" rhyme inside one short line. The chime makes the silly image stick.

imagery line 6

And his big hairy paws The picture of huge furry paws is vivid and funny. It contrasts with the neat "buttery dish" in the next line.

anaphora line 9

He's munching the rice, Lines 8 to 11 all begin with "He's." The repeated start builds a quick, rhythmic list of eating.

onomatopoeia line 10

He's slurping the soda, The word "slurping" sounds like the noise it names. It makes the bear's eating loud and messy.

alliteration line 8

He's nibbling the noodles, The repeated "n" sound links the verb and the food. It adds to the playful sound of the list.

neologism line 17

In our Fridgitydaire. The brand name is stretched into a made-up word. With "Polary" in line 16, it turns the ending into a silly echo of the opening.

personification line 3

He likes it The bear has likes and a reason for being there. He is treated like a household guest with opinions.

Words worth knowing

Frigidaire

A brand name of refrigerator. The speaker uses it to mean the fridge.

Fridgitydaire

A made-up, stretched version of Frigidaire, blending in the word fridge. It is a joke on the sound of the brand name.

Polary

A made-up, playful form of polar, used for the rhythm and the fun.

'cause

A short spoken form of because.

What readers have said

• One reader found the poem funny and compelling, while noting that it bends normal grammar and spelling. Tara, 2004
• A reader read it as deeper than it seems, about locking away feelings that keep feeding and growing. Lola, 2005
• A reader writing a report found the poem easy to remember but could not see its moral or point. randi, 2005
• Another reader argued that the poem stands as it is, with nothing to add or take away. Norm, 2005
• One reader said that at a frightening time, the poem made them laugh and forget their fear. maria tripton, 2005