Little Boy Crying by Mervyn Morris ( Jamaican poet, professor at Mona )

ANALYSIS ONE
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
The poet makes it clear that the father loves his son. However, he is slapping him for his own
good. 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 what, there are often important behaviors or lessons
children must learn.

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. His childhood is not one that is
carefree without any consequences for undesired behaviour.    
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.

ANALYSIS TWO

The short sounds and the meaning of the word 'tight', cause the reader to associate this with
rigidity and tension. The sudden change in sound and meaning therefore serves to emphasize, the
rapid change that the child is unable to understand. Morris quickly uses an ironic phrase in the
next line with, 'With three-year-old frustration'. The irony comes from the association of
frustration with work and the life of a middle-aged adult. The irony serves to lessen the effect of
the rapid change that has troubled our character. We are led, in the following enjambment (in
verse, the continuation of a sentence beyond the end of the line) effected phrase 'your bright
swimming tears', further showing the unpreparedness of the three-year-old for the 'Quick slap
struck', which Mervyn Morris later describes with the aid of alliteration and monosyllabic
language, that has the effect of enhancing the swiftness of the blow. The poet then uses
structuralism and fictional reference to amplify the differences between the world views of the
boy and his father. In 'The ogre towers above you, that grim giant'; the use of the word 'you', puts
the reader in the shoes of the boy, invoking memories and possibly a slight pathos.

Conclusion

Momentarily the reader is presented with the idea that this hate may be both premature and
temporary. The words ‘easy tears ‘ in the next stanza serve to propagate (spread) the effect of the
first stanza's description of the boy's tears as in 'swimming tears splashing your bare feet'. The
consonance of S in both cases serves to emphasize the easy flow of the words as they flow into
one another, emulating (following) a flow of water. Morris then sharply contradicts the water in
'easy tears' with burning heat in the hard sound of 'scald', in addition to its meaning of burning
pain. Therefore, I think Morris is trying to actuate the idea of immense love behind the father,
that is partially causing this 'quick slap struck', a phrase that I think epitomizes (exemplifies) the
father's love. The final comparison of 'rain' to the child's tears and 'plaything' to the 'piggy back
or bullfight' with which the father wishes to 'curb your (the boy's) sadness'. Morris masterfully
puts across the idea of learning from negative experiences by putting it in terms of a child's
experiences. We must not cast aside negativities of life, but grow. Not spoil the lessons we
should learn.

ANALYSIS THREE

Throughout Mervyn Morris' first collection of poems, The Pond, the family is used as
a setting for the most intimate and fearsome dramas. "Little Boy Crying" is no
exception. In this poem, Morris investigates the complicated emotions between a
father and his three-year-old son who has received a spanking because he has been
playing in the rain. The themes of time, paternal love, and punishment are
demonstrated in the complex pattern of word choice and shifts in point of view.

The poem begins by using word play to show change (bold) and water imagery
(italics) to reveal the fluidity of time and introduces the theme of crime and
punishment (underline):

Your mouth contorting in brief spite and hurt,

your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
your frame so recently relaxed now tight
with three-year-old frustration, your bright eyes
swimming tears, splashing your bare feet,
you stand there angling for a moment's hint
of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap struck.

Morris' wry sense of humor is especially present in the second stanza where he
alludes to the language of (Grimms'?) fairy tales (superscript) to describe the only way
that a three year old boy could see or understand his father's actions:

The ogre towers above you, that grim giant,

empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
soon victim of the tale's conclusion, dead
at last. You hate him, you imagine
chopping clean the tree he's scrambling down
or plotting deeper pits to trap him in.

In the third stanza, the complexity of time/change (bold), crime, judgment and
punishment (underline) are revealed in the emotions of the father, who will "piggy-
back, bull-fight, anything" with his son who only understands play. Yet the father
wants to teach his son a valuable lesson he "should learn." Both are suffering
through the ordeal of punishment: the father who has a "fierce" love for his son and
the son who is suffering because of the slap:

You cannot understand, not yet

the hurt your easy tears can scald him with
nor guess the wavering hidden behind that mask.
This fierce man longs to lift you, curb your sadness
with piggy-back or bull fight, anything,
but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.

You must not make a plaything of the rain.