Monsters I've Met

Monsters I've Met - context Summary

From a Light in the Attic

Published in Shel Silverstein’s 1981 children’s collection A Light in the Attic, this short poem playfully subverts horror tropes. Each feared creature—ghost, devil, vampire—turns out to have an ordinary, even comic request rather than a sinister purpose. The speaker’s bemused, conversational tone and tight three-stanza pattern lead to a wry closing line about bad timing. It reads as whimsical reassurance that fears can be unexpectedly mundane.