The parallels between literary creativity and child language acquisition are explored, surveying M. Rifaterre's (1989) theory of literality and Claudia T. G. de Lemos's (1982, 1997, and 1998) interactionist conception of child language acquisition. It is noted that the processes of metaphorization and metonymization underlie both poetic and child language. Although the poet and the child occupy different positions vis-a-vis language as a tool and resource, both are testing the limits of language as a medium of self-expression and a means of positioning their private, alienated subjectivity with regard to the world and the "Other." This thesis is illustrated with the analysis of two texts written by Brazilian 3rd graders diagnosed with learning difficulties. (LLBA 2003, vol. 37, n. 5)