My Shadow

When there is no light or the light is directly overhead, the shadow shrinks or disappears

Step 1: A shadow is formed only when light hits an object and is blocked. Step 2: When light comes from directly overhead (like the midday sun), the shadow falls directly below and becomes very tiny or disappears. Step 3: If there is no light at all, no shadow is formed. Step 4: From a science point of view, a shadow's size changes with the angle and intensity of light. Step 5: So when the poem says the shadow gets so little that 'there's none of him at all', it refers to the shadow shrinking or vanishing when light conditions change.

Someone who is completely lazy and always sleepy

Step 1: The textbook explains that 'arrant' means bad or complete. Step 2: A 'sleepyhead' is someone who loves to sleep and is lazy about waking up. Step 3: Together, 'arrant sleepyhead' means someone who is completely inattentive and very lazy — always wanting to sleep. Step 4: In the poem, the child calls the shadow a lazy sleepyhead because it did not appear early in the morning. Step 5: So the correct meaning is someone who is completely lazy and always sleepy.

The sun had not risen yet, so there was not enough light to form a shadow

Step 1: In the last stanza, the child says he woke up 'very early, before the sun'. Step 2: This means the child woke up before sunrise when it was still dark or dim. Step 3: A shadow can only be formed when there is light. Without sunlight, no shadow appears. Step 4: The child humorously says the shadow was a 'lazy sleepyhead' still asleep in bed — but scientifically, it simply could not form without light. Step 5: So the shadow was missing because the sun had not yet risen.

Buttercup

Step 1: In the third stanza, the child describes what he saw early in the morning. Step 2: The lines read — 'I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup.' Step 3: A buttercup is a small yellow flower, as mentioned in the New Words section of the textbook. Step 4: The dew (water droplets formed in the morning) was shining on these flowers, making a beautiful scene. Step 5: So the flower mentioned in the poem is the buttercup.