Summary of Coventry Patmore's The Toys

Introduction

            Coventry Patmore was born in the year 1823 and he died in 1896.  He was a famous poet and a critic.  He was a religious man and his poems establish his religious beliefs.  The poem The Toys, talks about a father’s love to his son and about the fatherly relation of God to man.

Reason for Punishment/Mind of the Poet after Punishing

The poem opens with the words, “My little son”.  His son had spoken like a grown up man, so the father has scolded and struck his son.  The father regrets and feels bad for his behavior.  The son is motherless.  The mother dies as a patient.  The poet uses the word patient as a pun.  If the mother had been alive, she would have been patient but she died of illness.  The father sends his son to bed without a kiss.  The son spoke like a grown up man was the crime, but the father calls him as a little son, this shows that the father is sad for punishing his son.

Son’s Bedroom

The father goes to his son’s room.  The son is in the bed.  He is asleep.  The father could see the eyelashes of the son as wet.  His son has cried for a long time.  The father cries in return.  Beside the bed, the father finds a box of counters, red-veined stone, a piece of glass, six or seven shells, a bottle with blue bells and two French coins.  All these toys are arranged in a proper order.

Poet’s Prayer

The father prays to God.  He realizes that truth that every human being is a product of God.  God has created human being in his own image.  The father says that God has molded man from clay.  God will never punish a man even after his death.  God is great.  He forgives everyone.  Man does not understand the good qualities of God.  Man behaves childishly in this earth.  God is a better father than a human being is.

Conclusion

Through this simple poem, Coventry Patmore conveys the greatness of God.  He uses simple language and vivid images to convey his thought.