Compare the ways attitudes towards children are presented in Nettles and Born Yesterday
In Nettles, a father hacks down a bed of nettles that have stung his three year old son. Images of pain and war are used throughout the poem as the father cuts down the “regiment” of “green spears” that have hurt his song. However, his victory is short-lived as the nettles will reappear two weeks later. Born Yesterday was written by Philip Larkin for Sally Amis, his best friend’s daughter, and focuses on his wish for her to be normal so she can be skilled and happy. Each of the poets show different attitudes towards the children in the poems, Scannell has a more protective attitude, whereas Larkin is more of a relaxed and hopeful attitude towards the child.
The speaker of Nettles has vast love and adoration for his son. The first line of the poem begins with “my son” this shows that the focus of the poem is on the son and the speaker’s protective and unconditional love. The writer makes several references to war, conflict and the military such as “spears”, “regiment” and “recruits”. These references are a metaphor for the nettles and the hurt that they caused the child. The poem only contains one, sixteen line stanza. The alternate rhyme scheme and use of iambic pentameter gives the poem an ordered, regimental feel.
Scannell uses many simple, monosyllabic words to maintain a steady pace and convey the feelings and vulnerability of the child, “with sobs and tears”. The son’s pain and the fathers anger are portrayed through images such as, “I took my hook and honed the blade” and “water grin”. The speaker then launches attack on the nettles as he “slashed in fury” at them, he does this as a way of trying to protect his child, and he also waits until his son has stopped crying before he attacks the nettles. Maybe he wants his son to witness his revenge and ‘victory’ over the nettles.
The Essay on Father And His Son Poem Relationship One
It is interesting that Elizabeth Jennings has chosen a Father and his Son in this poem rather than a relationship that she is more likely to have had experience with. A Father and his son however, traditionally have a very strong bond built on shared interests with the son generally making his father his role model. The effects and feelings of separation that Jennings wants to convey in this poem ...
Although the speaker had launched this attack, in actual fact it hadn’t achieved much as in two weeks “the busy sun and rain had called up the tall recruits behind the shed” meaning the nettles had regrown once again. This represents the continuous pain and challenges that the son will go through within his life. The change of tense, from past to future, in the last line reveals the message of the poem and its main theme. The metaphor “My son would often feel sharp wounds again” refers to the pain of growing up and the father’s desire to protect his son throughout his life, even if it is not possible.
The title of Born Yesterday is based on the saying “I wasn’t born yesterday” this is the writers way of showing he has a sense of awareness and is not stupid. He has been overdramatic with his wishes for the new-born baby. The poem is written in first person which shows the opinions of the speaker. “Tightly-folded bud” gives natural imagery of a baby which shows the direction of the focus of the poem. His “wish” is “not the usual stuff” which shows he is being realistic and is aware that it might not happen. He does not wish her “the usual stuff” of beauty, “innocence” or “love”. These are all wishes that people have no power over, yet “should it prove possible, well, you’re a lucky girl”. “Lucky” is a sematic field with “wish”, which is repeated throughout the poem, further suggest that none of this is for definite.
In the second stanza, it starts by saying “but if it shouldn’t, then may you be ordinary” this slows the pace of the poem as it is a more realistic wish, yet it sounds slightly negative and makes us wonder what he means. However, as the stanzas progresses we see that although his wish seems negative at the start, all he wishes her is to be happy. The writer adds “in fact, may you be dull – if that is what a skilled, vigilant, flexible, emphasised, enthralled catching of happiness is called” the anaphora list conveys his wish for her happiness in a more vivid and effective manner.
The Essay on The Almond Tree Son Poet Poem
Natalie Houston 1995 Poetry No. 11 Poetry is often written as a result of reflecting on an intense emotional experience or a significant event. Examine the techniques used by one poet to convey the significance of an experience or an event, which gave rise to a poem, or sequence of poems. The Almond Tree by Jon Stallworthy describes through the eyes of an expectant fathers supreme emotional joy at ...
In Nettles, the speaker is desperate to try and protect his son throughout his life, the father’s insight that he has leads him to realise that his son will be in physical and emotional pain throughout his life and wants to do anything possible to help him. In Born Yesterday, Larkin wishes for Sally Amis to be normal and ordinary, he accepts that she will not be perfect and wants her to live her life.
