The poem describes a father's attempt to protect his young son from nettles after he fell in the nettle bed. The father soothes the boy's blistered skin, then aggressively slashes the nettles with a blade. He burns the fallen nettles, thinking the battle is won, but within two weeks new nettles have grown, implying the futility of trying to protect one's child from life's inevitable pains.

1. Nettles
By Vernon Scannell

2. Background & Context
Vernon Scannell (1922−2007) was originally from West
Yorkshire.
Joined the war at age 18.
His name was originally Bain, but he changed it shortly after World War
II as he had deserted from the army. He did this twice – on the second
occasion, they put him into a mental hospital before being released.
His negative feelings about the effects of war have been a prevailing
influence on his work – he was awarded the Wilfred Owen Association
award for significant contributions to war poetry.
Scannell had 6 children of which 2 died. 1 son died as an infant and 1 son died
in a motor cycle crash.

3. Key Themes in ‘Nettles’
War
Violence
Danger

4. The Relationship:
A father protecting his son from the dangers of a
dark, menacing world in which nobody and nothing
can be trusted.
Nature will attack you, be cut down, grow back and
fight you again…just as the military will hunt you
down and find you if you leave without consent.
Scannell is protecting his son from a world he hates
and fears.

5. ‘Nettles’
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
The boy came seeking comfort and I saw
White blisters beaded on his tender skin.
We soothed him till his pain was not so raw.
At last he offered us a watery grin,
And then I took my billhook, honed the blade
And went outside and slashed in fury with it
Till not a nettle in that fierce parade
Stood upright any more. And then I lit
A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead,
But in two weeks the busy sun and rain
Had called up tall recruits behind the shed:
My son would often feel sharp wounds again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryrelationships
/nettlesact.shtml

6. The full stop at the
end of the first line
could indicate the
Possessive pronoun forcefulness at which
‘my’ indicates the the narrator’s son
protectiveness of the ‘fell’. It is also a
father. His son belongs moment of
to him contemplation.
My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.
The first line highlights The verb ‘fell’
the sons age – 3 – and suggests that this is
immediately implies an accident
that he is vulnerable.

7. Line 2 is the longest
‘Bed’ suggests a place of line in the poem. The
comfort and rest which is metaphor of ‘spears’
the complete opposite of presents the nettles as
the ‘nettle’ bed. violent aggressors. He
is representing them as
if they are the army.
‘Bed’ seemed a curious name for those green spears,
The fact that
they are
That regiment of spite behind the shed: ‘behind’ the
shed
The nettles are suggests
personified – a that they are
Suggests that there are military image of the planning
a lot of them in contrast nettles commencing their attack.
to the lone boy. their war against the
son.

8. Scannell uses a variety of soft ‘s’
sounds using alliteration and
assonance to emphasise the soothing
of his injured son.
It was no place for rest. With sobs and tears
The boy came seeking comfort and I saw

9. The alliteration
intensifies the reality of
the detailed description.
The plosive ‘b’ sounds
suggest an eruption of
blisters.
White blisters beaded on his tender skin.
The nettles have
The careful use of the adjective
painfully decorated the
‘tender’ emphasises the
young boy’s skin.
innocence of the boy,
contrasted with the violence of
the nettles.

10. ‘Soothing’ is an action that
The boy needs both is usually carried out with
parental units to make him babies. ‘Soothing’ helps
feel safe and secure. them to feel calm and
comforted.
We soothed him till his pain was not so raw.
At last he offered us a watery grin,
The ‘watery grin’ is
An opposing image – the another emotive
merging of laughter or description implying that
comfort or relief with the the child is being helped
tears of the pain from the to get over his painful
sting of the nettles. experience by his loving
parents.

11. The verb ‘honed’ shows
how the father is preparing
an attack of his own. He is
carefully sharpening his
blade to make it more
efficient when he faces the
nettles. It demonstrates a
careful, calculating manner.
And then I took my hook and honed the blade
Reference to a bayonet?
Hook = scythe
And went outside and slashed in fury with it
The father’s actions are He is relentless in
as violent as the nettle his desire to
stings. protect his son.

12. Again the extended metaphor
illustrates his anger at his past
and the ongoing battle against
them.
Till not a nettle in that fierce parade

13. The caesura in the Emphasises
middle of the line Scannell’s
here highlights a military past.
brief pause in the
father’s ongoing
battle to protect his
child.
Stood upright any more. Next task: I lit
A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead.
The full stop indicates that the father
thinks that this is the end of the
nettles and that he has defeated
them. It actually sounds as if he is
burning dead bodies of the injured.

14. You can not fight nature
But in two weeks the busy sun and rain
Had called up tall recruits behind the shed:
Suggests that the battle is futile. Re-enforcements
have come to replace those who have died. War will
go on and on until peace is declared.

15. The last line emphasises the father’s
realisation of his inability to protect his son
from life’s pain. It is inevitable that his son
will feel ‘wounds’ throughout life, whatever a
parent may do to prevent it.
My son would often feel sharp wounds again.