Nettles Flashcards

All 9 cards in this deck

Who wrote ‘Nettles’?

Vernon Scannell (1922–2007).

What war did Vernon Scannell fight in?

The Second World War, as a soldier.

Who is hurt in ‘Nettles’?

The speaker’s three-year-old son.

What is the first line of ‘Nettles’?

“My son aged three fell in the nettle bed.”

Which extended metaphor runs through ‘Nettles’?

Military imagery: the nettles are an army.

Which phrase in ‘Nettles’ turns the nettles into soldiers?

“That regiment of spite behind the shed”.

What does the father do to the nettles in ‘Nettles’?

Slashes them down with a billhook and burns them.

What is the last line of ‘Nettles’?

“My son would often feel sharp wounds again.”

What is the main theme of ‘Nettles’?

A parent’s wish to protect a child, and its limits.