Little Boy Crying

1

Little Boy Crying

Mervyn Morris

Mervyn Morris was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1937, and gained fame as Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at the University of the West Indies. As a schoolboy, he wrote for fun and satirical reasons. Later, he said, he used poetry more seriously to ask questions about aspects of his life. He is known for the economy with which he uses his words. This might be borne in mind when approaching this poem.

A) Warm-up exercise

Why might the little boy be crying.

B) Pre-teaching: vocabulary

Fill out the answers below:

C. The Poem

Stanza 1

1. What is the incidentand whose perspective do we see it from?

1. How is the boy described? Contrast the before and after. Assess how far the boy’s grief is genuine. Look closely at the words to support your case. (Remember that the emotions of a small boy do not have to be straightforward.)

1. Identify and comment on the effects of the following:

1. Is there anything else which is interesting about the way the boy is described?

1. How might the word ‘bright’ have a double meaning?

1. What is the boy trying to do in line 6? ‘angling’

1. Can you make any conclusions about how the adult feels about the boy and the punishment?

Stanza 2

1. How is the adult perceived and from whose perspective? Comment on this.

1. The adult is described metaphorically. Fill in the table below with words used to describe the adult.

1. What kind of word is ‘cruel.’ How is it unexpected?

1. Consider the way

i)the fairy-tale has been used

ii)the sounds of the words

iii)the way the poet presents the child’s plans for revenge.

1. Identify and comment on:

1. Is there any suggestion of humour in the way the poet has presented the child’s response?

Stanza 3

1. What can’t the child understand?

1. Is there any unhappiness about the loss of rapport between them, however short-lived it might be?

1. In line 15, who does ‘your’ and ‘him’ refer to?

1. Why are his tears ‘easy’?

1. Why doesn’t the poet call himself I or me at any time in the poem do you think?

1. Consider the force of the feelings behind the ‘hurt’, ‘easy’, ‘fierce’, ‘longs’, ‘anything’, ‘dare’. What are the poet’s feelings?

Stanza 4

1. Why do you think the last line of the poem stands by itself?

1. Who has ‘you’ referred to in the poem so far? Is this the case here?

1. Why has the child been punished?

1. Do you think it is sometimes necessary to be cruel to be kind?