White 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 gets 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 beside 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.

The first connection that I made with the title was a black lazy couch potato. One of the poetic devices I found was personification this is my cite evidence for it: And I see him jump over me and But my lazy little shadow. and I also found some similes in this poem like For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india rubber ball. The rhyming pattern I found in this poem was A A B B this rhyming pattern was followed all throughout the poem. the structure in the poem was four stanzas and four lines. I think the meaning of the poem is how it's like to be a shadow and I also think the author is trying to make you think about how it would be if you were a shadow.