Little Boy Crying By Mervyn Morris
Poet
• Mervyn Morris, former Poet Laureate of Jamaica and poet, writer,
editor and professor emeritus at the University of the West Indies,
Mona, Jamaica, has written his poetry, focusing on the concerns of
men at all ages: sexual desire and spiritual love; mutability and
mortality; friendship and betrayal; joy and grief.
• In his poem “Little Boy Crying”, he focusses on the negative
feelings experienced both by a young boy and his father because
of both their perspectives on one experience, common between
both of them.
Themes & Topics
• In “Little Boy Crying”, Morris speaks of the themes:
1. Parenting - the poem speaks about the boy and his father.
The boy is throwing a tantrum, having been punished by his
father for playing in the rain. The father’s parenting style is
seen in the oxymoron, “This fierce man longs to lift you”,
showing his father’s love for him, but also his ability to
discipline him, as seen in, “You must not make a plaything of
the rain.” and “but dare not ruin the lessons you should
learn.”
2. Innocence – in the poem, the line, “You must not make a
plaything of the rain” shows the boy’s innocence of wanting
to play in the rain, despite the harm it could cause him. The
line represents his innocence from his young age. In addition
to this, Morris uses fairy tale analogies, such as “ogre” and
“grim giant”, while being alliterative to add a childish rhyme
to the poem to show his young age.
Themes & Topics
3. Immaturity – in the poem, the boy represents immaturity, as
he throws tantrums when being punished due to his lack of
knowledge of what could happen when playing in the rain. He
also sees his father as an “ogre” and a “grim giant”, when he
attempts to teach him the right way by disciplining him. The
boy is used to convey how immaturity looks, providing a
relatable story to most readers. His immaturity from his lack
of life experience is shown in the line, “You cannot
understand, not yet,”.
4. Maturity – in contrast with the boy, his father represents
maturity, being the older disciplinarian and being calm, yet
firm, in the situation.
Themes & Topics
5. Love – the father is saddened by his son’s anger at him, due
to his own love for him, shown in the lines “the hurt your
easy tears can scale him with” and “This fierce man longs to
lift you,”, yet because of the contrasting immaturity, his son
remains angry at him.
Characters
• In “Little Boy Crying”, two contrasting characters are introduced:
1. The boy – who represents immaturity, showing how children
act at a young age, due to their lack of life experience, and
thus lack of world knowledge. Lines contributing to this
theme include: the use of fairy-tale terms such as “ogre” and
“grim giant”, the use of alliteration which is primarily used in
nursery rhymes and lullabies to give them a certain rhythm
and his overreaction to a simple lesson, “with three-year-old
frustration”.
Characters
2. The Father – contrasting with the boy’s immaturity, the father
represents a disciplinarian, mature parent who loves his son. All
of these are encapsulated in the clause, “This fierce man longs
to lift you, but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn”.
Literary devices
• Mervyn Morris makes use of the following devices to convey his
characters, themes and topics:
1. Alliteration – the use of this adds to the themes of innocence
and immaturity, conveying the experience in a “nursery
rhyme” rhythm.
2. Metaphor – referring to the father as an “ogre” and a “grim
giant” shows the boys feelings in the moment about his
father.
3. Contrast – both the characters of the boy and his father
contrast with each other, showing their differences to one
another, and thus characterising both their emotions,
personalities, experiences, etc.
Structure
• The punctuation in “Little Boy Crying” is utilised to portray
emotions of the characters.
• For the boy, the punctuations used to indicate a “pause” are
closer together, showing his sudden thoughts as a result of his
anger and frustration.
• However, with regards to the father, they are further apart,
showing his thoughts are more spread out naturally, thus showing
his calmness.
CSEC Style Question
“Little Boy Crying” shows the relationship between a father and his
son.
a) Describe the father and son’s relationship.
b) Compare the feelings of the father and son about each other in
the poem.
c) Describe one literary devices used to convey the character’s
relationship with and feelings about each other.
