Death of a Naturalist Flashcards
Context
Grew up on a farm
Irish
The Troubles - often reflected on these
often deals with the beauty and depth of nature.
Imagery and Language
child’s transition to awareness of the unpleasant realities of life
He doesn’t flinch from unpleasant realities, as exemplified in the use of words like ‘slobber’ and ‘fester’.
frogs is a metaphor for the change
Structure
two stanzas of 21 and 12 lines respectively. The break or volta, where the child loses innocence
No rhyme
enjambment, varied sentence length and varying pace to convey the nuances of the story
Tone
Powerful
Innocence and Experience
jampotfuls of the jellied…
jampotfuls of the jellied Specks
Innocent vocabulary
Could allude to his fascination in sexual characteristics as he grows into adolescence, interested in the frog cycle. Although the narrator does not know this yet.
Bubbles gargle…
Bubbles gargled delicately,
Oxymoron highlights how counter intuitive nature can be
Onomatopoeic words creates a strong impression
Negative word made positive
All year the flax-dam…
All year the flax-dam festered in the heart
Abrupt start
Alliterative f and slows pace
long vowels also slow the pace
ominous undertone - foreshadowing a change
Miss Walls would tell us how
The da…
Miss Walls would tell us how
The daddy frog
flashback to Heaney’s childhood.
rhythmic flow to this section, where Miss Walls’ speech is mimicked.
Then one hot day…
Then one hot day when fields were rank
Discourse marker
sharp contrast
The ‘hot day’ seems oppressive and the ‘rank’ fields’ create an unpleasant, restless atmosphere and mood.
gross-b…
gross-bellied frogs were cocked
Consonant rhyming which creates a slow and ponderous nature.
Creates an unsettling picture.
The grea…
The great slime kings
Connotes to war imagery - The troubles
The slap and plop…
The slap and plop were obscene threats
the words and images are deliberately ridiculous, evoking memories of childhood delight at ‘naughty words’.
Note that the sentence length is shortening and the pace quickening - could allude to passing of time seeming faster.
That if I dipped my hand th…
That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.
innocent curiosity in nature quelled
New born babies instinctively clutch onto things. The poem has a cyclical structure
Ironically, the clutching instinct draws the poet close to the spawn he has stolen
