Warning

Warning - context Summary

Published in 1974

"Warning" is a short, comic cautionary poem from Shel Silverstein's 1974 collection Where the Sidewalk Ends. It imagines a fearsome "shar-toothed snail" living inside the nose to deter children from picking. The humor comes from escalating absurdity—finger, ring, entire finger—turning a commonplace taboo into a playful threat. The poem’s child-friendly voice and grotesque exaggeration make the warning memorable rather than moralizing.