My dad gave me one dollar bill
‘Cause I’m his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
‘Cause two is more than one!

And then i took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-i guess he don’t know
that three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just ’cause he can’t see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And i took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
and the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And then i went and showed my dad,
and he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head-
Too proud of me to speak!

Analysis, meaning and summary of Shel Silverstein's poem Smart

7 Comments

  1. Summer says:

    I think there is a political aspect to this poem. What I cant decide is which side are the republicans and which side are the democrats. Also I believe that Hiram Coombs represents a very important political person.

  2. Caitlyn Valade says:

    I need to know the poetic device of this poem and it is very funny also.

  3. Jasmin Micheals says:

    This peom is so, funny and I think that Shel Silverstein is so talented

  4. Olivia.R.Gemmell says:

    This is a funny poem that I love reading and listing to my teacher ,Mrs.Hang, read it.

  5. jim says:

    very funny he shour is smart

  6. stephanie says:

    i love this poem and sometimes i think of myself that stupid! XD

  7. Claire says:

    OMG i love this poem! it is like sooo cool! i read it to my parents and my brother and they all loved it too! you are a great writer Mr. Silverstein. i love your poems.

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