In "Nettles," by British poet Vernon Scannell, the speaker's son gets hurt after stumbling into a patch of stinging plants. Horrified at seeing the boy in pain, the speaker charges into the yard with a sharp blade and hacks away at the nettles until there's nothing left. The effort proves fruitless, however, as new plants soon spring up to replace the old. The stinging nettles come to symbolize life's inevitable pain: no matter how much the speaker may wish to protect their son, the boy will undoubtedly be hurt again. "Nettles" was published in 1980, in Scannell's New & Collected Poems 1950-1980.

• Read the full text of “Nettles”

• “Nettles” Summary

• “Nettles” Themes

  • 

    The Inevitable Pain of Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Nettles”

  • Lines 1-4

    My son aged ...
    ... place for rest.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 4-8

    With sobs and ...
    ... a watery grin,

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 9-13

    And then I ...
    ... the fallen dead,

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 14-16

    But in two ...
    ... sharp wounds again.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• “Nettles” Symbols

  • 

    Nettles

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.”
    • Lines 9-12: “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”
    • Lines 14-16: “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.”

• “Nettles” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “nettle,” “bed”
    • Line 2: “Bed”
    • Line 3: “behind the shed,” “:”
    • Line 9: “And”
    • Line 10: “And”
    • Line 11: “nettle”
    • Line 15: “behind the shed,” “:”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “those green spears, / That regiment of spite behind the shed:”
    • Lines 11-12: “Till not a nettle in that fierce parade / Stood upright any more. ”
    • Lines 12-13: “And then I lit / A funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead”
    • Lines 14-15: “But in two weeks the busy sun and rain / Had called up tall recruits behind the shed”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “seemed,” “spears”
    • Line 3: “regiment,” “spite”
    • Line 4: “rest,” “sobs”
    • Line 5: “seeking,” “saw”
    • Line 6: “blisters,” “beaded,” “skin”
    • Line 7: “soothed”
    • Line 9: “billhook,” “blade”
    • Line 13: “funeral,” “fallen”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-6: “With sobs and tears / The boy came seeking comfort and I saw / White blisters beaded on his tender skin.”
    • Line 8: “At last he offered us a watery grin,”
    • Lines 9-10: “And then I took my billhook, honed the blade / And went outside and slashed in fury with it”
    • Line 16: “My son would often feel sharp wounds again.”

• “Nettles” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Nettle bed
  • Regiment
  • Spite
  • Watery grin
  • Billhook
  • Funeral pyre
  • Recruits
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Nettles”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Nettles” Speaker

• “Nettles” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Nettles”

• More “Nettles” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Nettles."

    • An Obituary of the Poet — A Guardian article about Scannell's varied life and career.

    • More About Nettles — Facts about the plant at the center of the poem.

    • A Biography of the Poet — An overview of Scannell's life and accomplishments, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation. 

    • A Scannell Exhibit — A digital exhibition on the poet, via Leeds University.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Vernon Scannell

    • Hide and Seek

Cite This Page