My Shadow Lyrics
A child watches a shadow that jumps when they jump, stretches like a rubber ball and then, one early morning, is nowhere to be found. The poem is sixteen lines and has a true bit of science tucked inside.
My Shadow
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow -
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/my-shadow/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Tune
- Read briskly, with a bounce on the long first lines
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does My Shadow Mean?
This is a poem about noticing. The child cannot see what use a shadow is, but cannot get rid of it either: it copies every jump and stays close at the heels. Then comes the funniest thing, the way it grows. It shoots up tall like a rubber ball, then goes so little that there is none of it at all.
The poem is right about shadows. A shadow is long when the sun is low, in the morning and evening, and short around midday when the sun is high, and it vanishes when a cloud covers the sun. The last verse also holds a fact: before the sun is up there is no shadow to see, so the poem imagines the shadow still asleep in bed.
A few older words: arrant means complete or thorough, nursie is a nurse or nanny, and an india-rubber ball is a bouncing ball made of rubber. The child's complaint, that the shadow "hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play", is a joke on the child's side as well, since the shadow can do nothing but follow.
History and Origin
The poem dates from 1885, the year Stevenson's children's book came out. More on the author is in The Land of Counterpane.
How a shadow grows and shrinks can be tested outdoors on a sunny day, which makes the poem an easy way into a first lesson about light.
Learning Activities
- Chalk your shadow: trace a child's shadow on the pavement in the morning and again at midday, and compare the lengths.
- Shadow puppets: shine a torch on a wall and make animal shapes with the hands.
- Find a missing shadow: on a cloudy day, ask where the shadow has gone.
- Copycat: stand in front of a lamp and make slow movements so the shadow copies them, then swap places with a partner.