My Shadow (poem) explained
My Shadow is an 1885 poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. Among his most famous poems for children,[1] [2] it appeared in A Child's Garden of Verses in 1885.[3] [4]
It is written in iambic heptameter, as it is written in iambs and contains seven metrical feet per line, each of which can be considered a fourteener, as each iamb consists of two syllables.
In popular culture
In 1885, the poem was disfavored by the British Quarterly Review, preferring Stevenson's other poems including The Hayloft, Farewell to the Farm, and The North-West Passage.[5]
It was included in multiple syllabus textbooks for elementary school teachers, including 1918,[6] 1916,[7] and 1921.[8]
In 1948, former U.S. President Harry S. Truman recalled the lines, "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" to refer to the Republican candidate "running along behind him."[9] [10]
In July 1953, Frances Horwich read the poem on an episode of her NBC children's series Ding Dong School.
In October 1994, the poem was featured in the twelfth season of Reading Rainbow. The poem was read aloud by actor Robert Guillaume. [11]
References
Wikisource
Notes and References
- Primary Education - Volume 29 - Page 311 1921 DEAR to the hearts of all children are the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson. Perhaps no one of his poems is more popular than "My Shadow." Its song-like rhythm is a delight to the ear and the " story " makes a strong .
- Grasping Shadows: The Dark Side of Literature, Painting, ... - Page 68 0190675276William Chapman Sharpe - 2017 And in all of these characteristics, the child's shadow anticipates the much more traumatic split of “me” and “not-me” in Stevenson's most famous work, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). The enduring popularity of “My Shadow” as .
- Web site: Livesey. Margot. 1994-11-01. The Double Life of Robert Louis Stevenson. 2021-06-06. The Atlantic. en.
- Web site: 2020-12-20. Anyone for Tennyson?: A Christmas Goose...We mean Mother Goose!. 2021-06-06. The Berkshire Edge. en-US.
- Book: The British Quarterly Review - Volume 82. Hodder and Stoughton. 1885. Princeton University. 214.
- Book: of Public Instruction, Michigan Dept. Course of Study Syllabus, Elementary Schools .... University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 1918. 32. en.
- Book: New York Teachers' Monographs, Volume 21. New York Teachers' Monographs Company. 1916. 9. en.
- Book: Curry. Charles Madison. Children's Literature: A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-training Classes. Clippinger. Erle Elsworth. Rand McNally. 1921. 978-1-344-64678-9. Harvard University. 383. en.
- Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: 1623761255Truman, Harry S. - 1963 "That made me think of something I used to hear a long time ago, that went: 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. That has several connotations, if you want to think about it ..."
- Book: S, Truman, Harry. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1948, Volume 4. 1963-01-01. Best Books on. 978-1-62376-125-7. en.
- https://www.readingrainbow.org/watch/stories-that-spark-creativity/
