Nettles by Vernon Scannell Essay

The meter Nettles by Vernon Scannell revolves nearly a contracts perspective on an accident involving his pass discussion, through which the poet explores a father- give-and-take relationship, wherein the father tries to cling to his password from the various difficulties in life. However, despite his efforts to case his watchword from these problems, they will be a constant threat in life. The boy here is a metaphor for the host, with the nettles being an extended metaphor of recurring war. The combined effect of these metaphors throws light on the difficulties in life. The poet has crafted a title which sharply handlings symbolism to depict the nettles as evil. A cursory reading of the poem portrays the protective instinct of a father for his beloved son, whom he tries to protect against all told troubles in life. A reference into the authors life tells us about his own involvement with army life, which is conveyed provokely in the poem. There is an alternating rhyme s cheme present throughout the poem.Enjambment is used to service of process make the poem sound like a story. The poem has a single stanza which shall be split up into, for analysis, four stanzas consisting of four lines each. The first stanza revolves around a description of the poets son falling into the hunch forward of nettles in a garden. The poet aptly uses the wordbed, a term often associated with comfort that ironically the nettles cannot provide. The green spears, a metaphor for the flower stalks, show his discontent with the latter, therefore portraying them as a weapon of destruction. A spear is a weapon of war and killing, inducing war and blood imagery. The poets interesting word choice in the description of the nettle bed as a command of spite portrays them as an enemy. The phrase regiment of spite, coming from archaic vocabulary, is used in the collocation of the nettle bed with an opposing army in a state of war. Moreover, the poet paints the setting of the regime nt as being behind the shed.This creates an illusion of a hidden enemy, ready to pounce on his innocent son. The closely knit father-son relationship is shown by the personas hatred towards the nettle bed, which hurts his beloved son. The father is willing to do anything to protect his son and despises his sons enemies and ill wishers. This stanza talks about the fathers protectiveness of his son from the numerous troubles in the latters life, inducing the readers to be warm towards this beautiful relationship. The second stanza revolves around the sons reaction to being hurt by the green spears. By stiff use of word choice, the poet describes the son asthe boy, highlighting the transition in language from a more(prenominal) personal my son. The poet uses visual imagery to conjure vivid images of his son with white blisters beaded on his tender skin. The words white and tender portray the sons innocence and purity. Moreover, the word beaded is used to depict the enormous amount o f blisters and how his sons sufferings were deep. The father speaks about console his son in the next line through the word soothing.The pain is being depict as raw, to draw a contrast between the sons innocence and tenderness, and the nettles energy to hurt. The father is afraid that the sons memories will leave him scars, which may remain with him forever. However, as shown in the end of the stanza, the sons terrible memory is washed away. The son has moved on from the incident, except the sense of pain still lingers. The father-son relationship is shown to be one of immense love with the father protect and consoling his son. The third stanza, more literal in meaning, revolves around the narrators reaction to his sons injuries. In the first line, the poet removes his billhook and prepares to destroy the nettles. Through the second line, the poet is shown to be destroying the nettles. By apt use of word choice, the poet describes his fury, highlighting his anger towards the net tles for trying to harm his son. By the action of destroying the nettles in this stanza, the poet juxtaposes destruction of enemies and protection of loved ones, throwing light on the personas love towards his son.The poet uses personification by describing the nettles with the human quality of being fierce. This makes them seem like the enemys army which has been unmake by the father. The poet ends the stanza using an enjambment to possibly show the continued struggles in his sons life, star(p) the readers to connect emotionally to the fathers devotion to his sons happiness. The final stanza revolves around the nettles retorting to the fathers attacks. In the first line, the father is shown to give the nettles a funeral. This shows the father ending the troubles caused by the nettles. With effective choice of words, the poet describes how the sun and rain, representative of nature and its power, finally help the nettles grow. The word recruits shows the enemy army was returning a nd regrouping.Furthermore, the word tall depicts the nettles being stronger and healthier than before and their readiness for the battle. The final line states that the son would be hurt by the nettles soon and again. While problems wont wane with time, despite all of the fathers efforts, the son will have to find a way to learn to adjust to the renewed struggles in his life. On a concluding note, while an individual may have five-fold protectors, the lesson of independence is fundamental to life. Hurdles must be encountered and tackled to emerge with strength and power. One of the most interesting poetic devices used is the metaphor of war, drawing upon the battles in a persons life. In Nettles, Vernon Scannell expresses how the son must eventually stand up on his feet, despite the fathers attempt to protect him though his life.