click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
‘Nettles’
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon revision notes GCSE English Ormerod
Poem | Key Points |
---|---|
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon SUMMARY | The narrator’s son has fallen in to abed of nettles & is badly stung. The narrator comforts him then cuts down the nettles but they grow back after 2 weeks. Scanlon was a war poet – poem has a military theme. |
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon THEMES | Parental love. Pain. Time (he won’t be able to protect his son when he grows up). Military theme. |
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon FEELINGS | Tenderness. Revenge. Powerlessness. |
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon STRUCTURE | The poem consists of a single stanza and has alternately rhyming lines. The poem is a narrative account, focused on the father's perspective of an accident involving his son. |
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon LANGUAGE | Military imagery & language nettles personified = opposing force ‘spears’ = metaphor child described with emotive language shows compassion & sympathy speaker feels for his son Alliteration line 6 'b' sounds = swelling, painful injuries |
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon KEY QUOTES | ‘green spears’ ‘regiment of spite’ ‘blisters beaded on his tender skin’ ‘that fierce parade’ ‘A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead’ ‘called up tall recruits’ |
‘Nettles’ Vernon Scanlon LINKS TO… | ‘Praise Song for My Mother’ about the actions of a caring, protective parent ‘Manhunt’ military imagery in the context of a close relationship ‘Quickdraw’ imagery from a different context |