Little Boy Crying by Mervyn Morris

Nature/Situation
The speaker is a father who has just slapped his three year old son for playing in the rain. As he
watches the child crying in frustration, he tries to imagine what the child is thinking of his father
and how the boy probably hates this giant of a man who seems so cruel. He lets us know that in
fact he would love to lift the boy up and play with him to ease his sadness, but he feels he must
remain firm and stern since the child must learn not to play in the rain

Structure
Using free verse, the poet presents his poem in four stanzas- the first three of similar length and
the final stanza consisting of just one line.
Stanza 1
The poem begins with a description of a child crying. However, his cries seem harsh and fierce
“Your laughter metamorphosed into howl”. This also suggests that the child is normally a happy
one and something happened to have changed his happiness. The last line in the stanza informs
us that the reason why the child is crying is because he has been beaten “the quick slap struck”.
The little boy is also staring at the parent hoping that he might be feeling guilty for hitting him.
This might mean that the child is trying to play on the parent’s emotion “you stand there angling
for a moment’s hint”.

Stanza 2
It is important to note that the stanza is giving the point of view of the parent. The parent is
imagining that the child is demonizing him for hitting him “The ogre towers above you, that
grim giant,// empty of feeling a colossal cruel”. From this, we can understand that the parent
thinks that the child believes that he is cruel and evil for hitting him and therefore is thinking of
ways to overcome or get away from the parent.

Stanza 3
Poet makes it clear that the father loves his son. However, he is slapping him for his own good.

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He also suggests that the father is hurt by the son’s tears and would do anything to make him
stop crying. “This fierce man longs to lift you//……” Yet, the lesson must be taught.

Stanza 4
Maybe this stanza suggests that no matter that there are often important behaviour or lessons
children must learnt by children.
The last line is integral because the poet wants to highlight the lesson he’d like to teach his son;
“You must not make a plaything of the rain”. It shows why he goes hard on his son. As most
parents do, he wants his son to grow up as a decent person and to give his son the lesson.

Themes

Parent – Child Relationship

The father seems to be firm and strict with his son. Although he loves him he does not allow him
to have his own way.

Childhood Experiences
The little boy experiences pain and resentment for his parent.

Parenting
The father tries to be a good parent. In his eyes there are some lessons that his son must learn.
Therefore, he carries out physical punishment so that he can learn these lessons.

Corporal Punishment
This is a focal point in the poem because the father administers punishment in the form of a
“quick slap struck”.

Lessons Learnt

The child eventually learns that he “must not make a plaything of the rain”.

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Fatherhood

This theme is integral in the poem because the father loves his son and he declares that his son
does not yet understand the hurt his “easy tears can scald him with”. The father also longs to lift
him up and curb his sadness with piggy-back or bull-fight but he “dare not ruin the lessons” that
his son should learn.

Figurative Devices

Imagery

Animal imagery: “Your laughter metamorphosed into howls”- The child is crying loudly
mimicking the howls of dogs or wolves.

Imagery of swimming: Line 5: “swimming tears, splashing your bare feet”- The image of being
at the beach swimming and walking on the sand bare feet is presented.

Contrast

Line 3: “Your frame so recently relaxed now tight”- Prior to the beating, the little boy was very
comfortable.

Metaphor

Line 8: “ogre”- The father is compared to a huge, terrible giant.

Line 8: “giant”- The father is compared to a tall formidable person.

Alliteration

Line 3: “recently relaxed”- The boy is now agitated and uncomfortable

Line 7: “slap struck”- The slap has been quickly and sharply administered
Line 8: “grim giant”- The father seems huge and unrelenting.
Line 9: “colossal cruel”- The father’s cruelty seems to know no bounds.
Line 12: “chopping clean”- The boy seems to want to get rid of his father.

Allusion

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This is specifically allusion to fairytale. Using allusion, the poet lets the boy imagine revenge
upon his father. In this stanza, the boy regards his father as a cruel giant who exercises the power
over a little boy and revenge in the fairy tale. The ogre towers above you, that grim giant, empty
of feeling, a colossal cruel. The poet shows that the boy really hates his father and describes him
as a heartless, cruel giant ogre. He imagines chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down or
plotting deeper pits to trap him in: the boy imagines himself as Jack in the fairy tale, ‘Jack and
the Beanstalk’, cutting down the beanstalk before the giant ogre, metaphor of his strict father,
comes down.

Caesura

Line 11: “at last. You hate him, you imagine” – This is showing the intense feeling of hatred and
anger that the boy is likely to have for his father.

Mood

The description of the child’s crying leads to feelings of compassion. However, there are other
feelings such as self-justification, pity and remorse.

Tone

The voice is remorseful yet unrelenting.

Point of View

The poem is written in the first person point of view from the perspective of the father.

Diction

The words and phrases in the poem depict the themes: “metamorphosed into howls”,
“swimming tears”, “ quick slap struck”, “ogre”, “grim giant”, “colossal cruel”, dare not ruin the
lessons”

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