It's Dark In Here By Shel Silverstein Summary

Setting is defined as a place, or a type of surroundings. In the poem “It's Dark In Here” by Shel Silverstein one might say the setting is from inside a lion, as mentioned twice in the poem. As a reader of poems I would say it's deeper than that. That the setting is being trapped in your own mind, not only your mind but the poet's mind.
“I am writing these poems
From inside a lion,
And it's rather dark in here.”
It would seem like the poet is trapped in their own mind. In that dark place we all have, and go to from time to time. Whether we’re frustrated or depressed we all have it and have experienced it.
“ But this afternoon by the lion's cage
I'm afraid I got too near”
One could infer that the “lion's cage” may be a memory that isn’t exactly
uplifting. Maybe a regret in life. One can only speculate however, as a reader I can imagine the setting of the poem is the lion's stomach. The lion's stomach of course being the poet's mind. When the reader reads about how dark it is they’re able to relate seeing that everyone's had a dark place. While it seems like a silly poem at first, it's actually a depressing work of art. The setting being the poet’s mind only makes since. It’s an unfortunate experience being trapped in one’s own head, but it happens to the best of us.