His Laziness, the Sun

Develop an understanding of personification through visual representation.

Display the text of poem to the class without Anna Bron’s illustration. Ask the class:

Who does His Laziness, the Sun sound like?

Students should identify that he sounds a human, rather than the sun in the sky. They may be able to provide more specificity in their description, for example describing him as a child or teenager who does not want to get up for school in the morning.

Explain to students that the poet is using the technique personification. You can provide them with a definition of personification using the NSW Syllabus glossary.

Apply this definition specifically to the poem. Ask the class:

What kind of weather is being described in the poem?

Students should recognise that the poem describes a miserable and overcast day, where the sun is constantly hidden behind clouds and even storms (thunder, winds, lightning). The way the poet has achieved this rich description is by turning the weather into different characters: the lazy sun, booming thunder, blustery wind, and bolting lightning.

Instruct students to draw an illustration of the characters in the poem. Provide verbal scaffolding by defining the key vocabulary (booms, blustery, bolts) and ask students the following guiding questions:

What would their age be?

What kinds of clothing would they be wearing?

What color would their clothing be?

What would their facial expression and posture be like?

Would they be holding anything?

You might also instruct students to draw a whole picture to illustrate the poem, including considering the placement of His Laziness, the Sun as the main character, and where the other characters will appear around him.

Finally, reveal Anna Bron’s illustration. Explain that she has interpreted the poem differently and only the sun is personified. Discuss how she has used personification (the sun has a face, hands and feet and is lying in a bed of clouds).

Ask students whether they prefer Anna Bron’s illustration of the poem, or their own. Then, in writing, ask them to justify why.