Nettles Poem By Scarlett and Morgan

Nettles Poem By Vernon Scannel

Scarlett and Morgan

Structure and Form In Nettles

The structure of this poem is a single stanza to show a fathers memory of one event of when his son was harmed. It also has alternately rhyming lines which can be interpreted that the consistency of the poem represents the fathers feelings and how he is angry from the beginning to the end. The poem is from a narrative point of view (e.g. the fathers view) and this is so that the reader can get a honest sense of the emotions that run through a parent when their child is hurt or in danger.

Use Of Punctuation In Nettles

"to burn the fallen dead." the full stop at the end of this quote indicates that to the father it is the end of the nettles and he feels he has overcome them however to the reader it seems as though he is burning the bodies of fallen soldiers.

"next task:" the use of this punctuation is used to give the reader the feeling that the father feels he is still in the millitary completing missions. The punctuation also shows that he is going to list things he feels he has to complete to protect his son from danger.

"behind the shed" is used to describe the nettles and how the father is paranoid that they are planning their attack, similarly to enemy soldiers in the war, to once again harm his son.

Themes Of Nettles

One theme explored within the poem is the inevitability that you will feel pain at some points within your lifetime. The last line "my son would often feel sharp wounds again" emphasizes the fathers inability to protect his son from life's dangers and that no matter what he did his son would continue to get hurt while he watched.

The language and words used in the poem to describe the fathers actions towards the Nettles highlights the determination that he has to protect his son and to destroy the "Nettles" that caused his son pain so that they cannot hurt him again.

Meaning Of Nettles

The poem explores a strong relationship between father and son, we get a sense that the father is very protective of his son, this is seen through the first line in the poem through the use of a possessive pronoun which is "My", this word indicates the fathers possessive nature. The are are many links within the poem that are appear non-coinsidental to the army and this is due to the time that 'Scannel' spent in the military. "had called up tall recruits" this quote supports our point that the links in the poem to the army are not coincidental and they are references to his time in the service. Scannel wrote about one main theme which was the fathers protection and this represents his 6 children and the love and protection he had for them, unfortunately 2 of his children died, one as an infant and one in a motorcycle accident.