Analysing poems:'Little Boy Crying'
Beryl Clarke, Contributor

We return to our examination of the poem Little Boy Crying on which we worked in our last lesson. We will now continue to discuss the second verse. By the way, have you found out anything about our poet? Yes? So you know that he is a Jamaican. What else does he do?
Where has he spent much time working?

The second part of the verse tells us what the child considers doing to his father. And here now, your knowledge of fairy tales will assist you. I am sure that the story of Jack and the Beanstalk is well known to you. Look at the verse again. Yes, you can see that someone has been spending time with the boy, someone who has been reading and/or telling stories to him. In his mind, for a moment, he becomes so angry with his father that he wants to destroy him. He wishes that he could have his father at his mercy, climbing a beanstalk, so that, like Jack in the fairy tale, he could cut the tree down and cause his father's death.

He wants his father to be as vulnerable as he realises that he (the boy) is. He also thinks of other ways to get rid of his father.

In stanza three, we are given the father's view of the situation. He is sorry to have to punish his son but recognises that it is his responsibility to do so. His son's tears burn him - emotionally - of course, and he even wonders if he should pick him up, play with him and comfort him. But he cannot! He has to remain firm, being confident that he has not acted wrongly. This is to ensure that the boy learns the lessons of right and wrong.

Attention

And so, we come to our final stanza, a one-liner, standing out by itself, clearly visible and therefore, demanding attention. Naturally, it forces us to consider the structure of the poem.

The first verse has seven lines which set out or describe a situation. The second and third have six lines each and share information on the feelings of the child and the man respectively.

Then we see that the last verse consists of only one line, "You must not make a plaything of the rain", and so, we wonder if this is the most important point made in the poem. What do you think the speaker means by this? Shall we take it literally; interpret it to mean that the child was disciplined/punished because he was playing in the rain? We know that this could have caused him to get a cold and possibly a fever. But that is a narrow way to look at it for rain could signify something dangerous. You may ask, "How?" Well, we know what problems can be created by heavy rains.

In fact, rain is not a force that we as human beings can control. We could therefore extend our interpretation to mean that no one, not only children, should take lightly anything over which we have no command or power.

The speaker uses strong words and they create powerful images in this work. The use of the fairy tale demonstrates the way the child sees the world through the knowledge given to him by adults.

In other words, this allusion reveals that a child learns about his world from what he is told by those with whom he comes in contact and his ideas and attitudes can be formed from there.

His view, however, is limited and his conclusions can therefore be faulty.

Lack of experience causes him to condemn his father who loves and wants to protect him.

Practice questions

Here are some questions for you to answer.

1. How appropriate is the use of the word 'scald' in line 15?

2. Explain the poet's use of 'ogre' and 'giant'.

3. How is the father presented in: a) stanza 2 and b) stanza 3?

4. What is the theme of this poem?

Please spend time on some of the other poems on the syllabus now. You must try to understand them, identify their themes and find the common concerns among them. Until next week, work hard, take time to appreciate your life and your family and friends. God bless!

Students pose for the 'Youthlink' camera during an art and craft exhibition at Bridgeport High School on Monday, January 28. Pieces on display were either submitted for school-based assessment purposes or created mainly for the exhibition. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer

Beryl Clarke teaches at Glenmuir High School.