We investigate the structural dynamics of a pitching cantilever as it spins about a fixed axis, emulating the motion of the rotor blades of wind turbines or rotorcraft to some extent. From first principles, we derive a system of equations consisting of a nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) coupled with a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (ODE) that describes the motion of the system in bending and pitch as it spins according to a prescribed rotor velocity and acceleration. The equations of motion consider the interaction between dynamics of a flexible body in bending, rigid body motion in pitch, and the nonlinear effects of spinning, concurrently. This simplified model of a rotor blade permits an intuitive understanding of the various nonlinear terms that arise in the equations of motion, and their relative influence on the system dynamics. In a series of numerical experiments, we study the effects of the coupling between the bending and pitch degrees of freedom, the influence of rotor velocity, and rotor acceleration on the system dynamics. We compare the full nonlinear simulation results to those of the underlying linear system, obtained by imposing a small angle assumption in pitch and excluding all remaining nonlinear terms. The numerical experiments are performed by non-dimensionalizing the equations, discretizing the non-dimensionalized equations in space by applying the Galerkin method, discretizing the resulting system of ODEs in time using the Houbolt method and finally solving the resulting system of implicit algebraic equations using Newton’s method.