The poem
The stinging nettle only Will still be found to stand: The numberless, the lonely, The thronger of the land, The leaf that hurts the hand.
That thrives, come sun, come showers; Blow east, blow west, it springs; It peoples towns, and towers Above the courts of Kings, And touch it and it stings.
This is most irksome - a) the title of the poem is not "The Stinging Nettle" - it is simply known as XXXII in the Volume More Poems. Second, this only includes the last two stanzas. The poem actually reads thus: With seed the sowers scatter The furrows as they go; Poor lads, 'tis little matter How many sorts they sow, For only one will grow. The charlock on the fallow Will take the traveller's eyes, And gild the…
Read the whole commentThis is most irksome - a) the title of the poem is not "The Stinging Nettle" - it is simply known as XXXII in the Volume More Poems. Second, this only includes the last two stanzas. The poem actually reads thus:
With seed the sowers scatter
The furrows as they go;
Poor lads, 'tis little matter
How many sorts they sow,
For only one will grow.
The charlock on the fallow
Will take the traveller's eyes,
And gild the ploughland sallow
With flowers before it dies,
But twice will not arise.
The stinging nettle only
Will still be found to stand:
The numberless, the lonely,
The thronger of the land,
The leaf that hurts the hand.
It thrives, come sun, come showers,
Blow east, blow west, it springs;
It peoples towns, and towers
About the courts of Kings,
And touch it and it stings.
There is also a mistake in the second to last line. The nettle does not tower ABOVE the courts of Kings, which would have to make it a very large plant indeed. It towers "about" the courts, instead, which has a very different meaning.
Please, folks, get it right! And yes, the idiosyncratic spelling of "traveller's" is Housman's own.
Elena Tobias