Objectives for the next 6 weeks

•Selecting evidence•Inferring and developing meaning•Identifying and exploring language•Commenting on the effects of the writer’s techniques

Poetry - relationships

Today’s Objectives • Introduction to the poem Nettles by Vernon Scannell • Focus on the writer’s use of emotive language

The Poet...

Vernon Scannell (1922 - 2007) published his poetry from the 1950s right up to the last year of his life, but seems to be less well-known than he deserves, despite being the recipient of the Heinemann Award for Literature.

Background...His background is fascinating, including serving with the Army in the Middle East and the Normandy Landings. He is mostly a Second World War poet.

He joined the army aged 18, and he did fight in WW2.

He did desert his soldiers TWICE and he found himself in Northfield Hospital, what we would now refer to as a mental institution, as the Generals believed he was going mad.

His family...He had six children.

Two of those children passed away.

One of his sons passed away as a young child. The other passed away in adulthood after being involved in a motorcycle crash.

Four of his children, two sons and two daughters are still alive today.What might this have to do with

the poem?

Ideas in the poem…

Choice of task:Read the wordle of the

poem ‘Nettles’.

• Choose 2 words which use emotive language to show love.

• Choose 2 words which use emotive language to show pain/ suffering.

• Summarise the poem by connecting several words with connectives.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryrelationships/nettlesact.shtml

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 tearsThe boy came seeking comfort and I sawWhite 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 hook and honed the bladeAnd went outside and slashed in fury with itTill not a nettle in that fierce paradeStood upright any more. Next task: I litA funereal pyre to burn the fallen dead.But in two weeks the busy sun and rainHad called up tall recruits behind the shed:My son would often feel sharp wounds again.

Let’s listen to the poemWhat are your first impressions of the

poem?

Complete the following sentences

I think the poem is about _______ and _______

I know this from the lines _______ and _______

This makes the reader feel __________

Key Question

How is the speaker presented in the poem

‘Nettles’ by Vernon Scannell?

How does the speaker feel about...

His Son? The Nettles?

The Speaker in the Poem...

How is he presented?

Nettles

Expand on your chosen words…

‘Slashed’

From this I can infer:

cut, angry, violent, out of control, knife

The word ‘slashed’ is used by the poet to show the way in which the father cuts down the nettles. He ‘slashed in fury’ with the blade which suggests that he is taking all of his anger out on the nettles. He wants to destroy them because they have hurt his beloved son.

Example

Choose ONE word and answer the following question:

How does Scannell use language to show the relationship between father and son?

Expand on your chosen words for love and pain/suffering

Pair/Share your answers.

Read your answers to your table, explaining how the writer uses language to describe the relationship

How does Scannell use language to show the relationship between father and son?

Writing a response…

How is the speaker presented?

D grade

Quote to demonstrate this?

C grade

Explain how this quote shows this presentation

B grade

The father is presented as being caring and protective over his son.

This is revealed when he says “We soothed him till his pain was not so raw.”

From the verb ‘soothed’, the reader notices how loving the father is because he wants to comfort his child.

Plenary

• The poem initially seems like a straightforward story of the speaker’s young son falling into a bed of nettles and his vain attempt to prevent the boy from ever again experiencing such pain. However, there is a much deeper reading and meaning in this poem.

• On your tables, discuss what you think the hidden meaning(s) may be.

• Hint – can you link this to the use of military vocabulary