Nettles by Vernon Scannell
- Created by: emma brittain
- Created on: 01-05-16 10:43
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The Poet:
- Quite a dark character
- Lived through WW2
- Lived through Cold War
- Joined the army at age 18
- Addiction to dessertion
- One of his sons died at a young age
- Another died as an adult
- He writes a great deal about war and violence (in ways you would never think possible) and danger (even in every day world)
The Structure
- ABAB rhymning scheme
- Written in iambic pentameter
- Four quatraints (4x4 sets of lines), ABAB repeated four times, closely linked to sonnet form - he's breaking the rules like he did when he left the army
- Rhymn scheme - simple melodic poem to read.
Language:
My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.
'Bed' seemed a curious name for those green spears,
That regiment of spite behind the shed:
It was no place for rest. With sobs and tears
- End stop line in first line - punctation has a direct correlation between pace and meter, forces reader to slow down
- 'Bed'- in inverted commas, seems to be ambiguous, bed either means a flower bed or a place we sleep, forms a contemplation in his mind, unusal word of comfort the is be associated with something that causes discomfort
- 'Regiment of spite', 'green spears' - metaphorical military imagry, link to violence, regiment is a collection of men, explain stingying nettles and how they stand up in his garden, they can cause harm, its a battle with them, the danger they impose, weapon like qualities
- 3rd line - consonance, the T and Ds are very harsh letters which causes this line to sound very spiteful (some kind of anger and resentment towards nettles and own personal issue with military)
- Military imagry reflects his own paranoia after leaving the army
- 'My son aged three' - the possessive pronoun shows how he feels responsible for his son, foregrounds boys young age and therefore the son's vunrability and innocence
- 'sobs and tears' - upset, distressed
The boy came seaking comfort…
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