Little Boy Crying Poem Analysis

How are the different perspectives of parents and children explored in the two poems?

In ‘Girl’ and in ‘Little Boy Crying’, Jamaica Kincaid and Mervyn Morris both poems use the perspective of the parents in the poem to convey the message that they are giving. Both the mother and the father are giving advice to their children under different conditions. Kincaid’s mother gives her practical and helpful advice that will help her daughter keep her own house, while Morris talks about the emotions between a father and his son who has been punished because he has been playing in the rain. The poets does this by listing down chores and repeating sentences and using the father’s emotions while he scolds his son.

In ‘Girl’, the poet uses listing to emphasise the chores and things that the mother tells the child to do. Her mother tells her ‘this is how you sweep a corner; ….. this is how you set the table for breakfast;’ The mother tells Kincaid how …show more content…
Enjambment and metaphors are used throughout the poem to help Mervyn Morris to develop these ideas, which allows the audience to develop the message the poet is trying to convey. Mervyn Morris also uses metaphors and other poetic devices to expand on his ideas. The poet wants to tell the reader the message of the child may not always be innocent, but can be manipulative as well. This can be seen when he writes 'You stand there angling for a moment's hint of guilt or sorrow'. The boy is waiting for a response from his father as he is described as ‘angling’. He uses words like ‘frustration’, ‘grim giant’ and ‘cruel’ to show the little boy’s perspective towards the father scolding him. The child is afraid of the father scolding him, comparing the father to an ‘ogre’, showing that the father is comparable to an ogre, a creature that is normally used to describe people who tend to tower over people yet are angry at the same