Literary Devices and Forms

• Literature functions as communication, conveying thoughts, ideas, and emotions through written words.

Forms of Literature

• Prose is written in sentences and paragraphs without a rhyming structure.
• Poetry is expressed in verses with rhyme, lines, and stanzas, often having a melodious tone.

Literary Devices

• Simile compares one thing to another using "like" or "as."
• Metaphor refers to something beyond its literal meaning.
• Onomatopoeia involves words that mimic the sounds they represent.
• Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial letter in accented parts of words.
• Hyperbole is extreme exaggeration, whether intentional or unintentional.
• Personification attributes human qualities to inanimate objects or ideas.
• Euphemism replaces a more direct or harsh word or phrase with a mild or indirect one.
• Oxymoron combines contradictory words or phrases.
• Paradox presents a self-contradictory statement that reveals a deeper truth.
• Assonance is the repetition of similar or identical vowel sounds within different consonants.
• Pun plays on words, exploiting multiple meanings or similar-sounding words.
• Symbolism uses a person, situation, word, or object to represent something else.
• Pathetic Fallacy attributes human emotions to inanimate objects, nature, or animals.
• Irony presents a figure of speech where the intended meaning is the opposite of the expressed words.

"My Parents" Literary Analysis

• "Threw words like stones" is a simile indicating verbal bullying.
• "Who wore torn clothes" uses imagery to emphasize poverty.
• "Their thighs showed through their rags" uses alliteration and imagery.
• "Climbed cliffs" is an example of alliteration.
• "Muscles like iron" is a simile portraying strength and toughness.
• "I feared more than tigers" is a hyperbole exaggerating fear.
• "Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms" uses imagery to depict physical bullying.
• "Salt coarse pointing" is a metaphor symbolizing pain.
• "They sprang out behind hedges" uses imagery highlighting surprise attacks.
• "Like dogs to bark at my world" is a simile contrasting structured life vs. untamed freedom.
• "While I looked the other way" is a Biblical allusion suggesting passive suffering.

"My Parents" Interpretation & Themes

• The speaker is both protected and restricted by his parents.
• The speaker envies the rough boys' freedom despite their hardships.
• The poem uses irony, the speaker is privileged yet longs for the freedom of a lower social class.
• The narrative perspective is first-person.

"My Parents" Major Themes

• Childhood Experience involves a contrast between protection and exposure.
• Parental Love explores the role of parents in shielding children.
• Bullying highlights the psychological and emotional impact of mockery and exclusion.

"Little Boy Crying" Overview

• The title suggests innocence ("Little") and vulnerability, with "Crying" indicating sadness and weakness.
• The poem explores the emotions of a three-year-old boy after being slapped by his father.

"Little Boy Crying" Analysis of Literary Devices

• "Contorting" signifies change, representing the boy's shift from happiness to sadness.
• "Metamorphosed" reinforces the theme of transformation.
• "Your frame" refers to the boy's whole body becoming tense.
• "Swimming tears" is an oxymoron where "swimming" suggests joy, while "tears" signify sadness; also a hyperbole.
• "Splashing" is an example of onomatopoeia, creating imagery.
• "Quick slap struck" uses alliteration and onomatopoeia, emphasizing the action's suddenness.
• "Howl" uses animalistic language to describe the boy's crying.
• "Ogre" metaphorically compares the father to a monster.
• "Chopping clean the tree" is an allusion to Jack and the Beanstalk, reinforcing the child's innocence.
• "Grim giant" is an alliteration, portraying the father as menacing.
• "A colossal cruel" is an alliteration.
• "Mask" is a metaphor for the father hiding his softer emotions.
• "Long to lift you" is an alliteration, suggesting the father’s internal struggle to comfort his son.

"Little Boy Crying" Stanza Breakdown

• Stanza 1 presents the father's perspective, focuses on the child's physical reaction to the slap.
• Stanza 2 presents the child's thoughts, portraying his father as an "ogre" and imagining revenge.
• Stanza 3 presents the father's emotions of being inwardly hurt, despite being outwardly strict.

"Little Boy Crying" Irony and Emotional Impact

• "The hurt your easy tears can scald him with" is an example of irony: The father is emotionally affected by disciplining the child.
• The father appears strict but is deeply affected, while the child's pain is brief compared to the father's lingering emotions.

"Little Boy Crying" Themes

• Parent-Child Relationship: The father enforces discipline but still cares for his son.
• Childhood Experience: The boy experiences pain, resentment, and misunderstanding of his father's actions.
• Parenting: The father believes in teaching lessons through discipline, balancing authority with love.