Death Of A Naturalist

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

Heaney uses the autobiographical poem as a vehicle to process his lamentable and irreversible loss of childhood. Catalysed by the tragic death of his 4 year old brother Christopher. Heaney depicts how imagination is coarsened and his affinity for nature is lost as he transitions from childhood to adolescence, having gained the experience of the brutal and harsh realities of nature he was once sheltered from.

Question 2

Festered, rotted

Answer 2

Haney adopts the voice of his pure