Death of a Naturalist Flashcards
Title
-refers to the end of one way of looking at the world after gaining experience
Theme
-explores the loss of childhood innocence and the transition to a more complex understanding of the world
Structure
-Bipartite (two distinct parts)
-1st section covers memories of the speakers
youth and the innocent exploration of nature
- 2nd section shows a change of perception
-poem structured to show a transformation in the speakers sense of self
“Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles”
- oxymoronic contrast beetween the guttural/onamatopeic “gargled” and gentle “delicately” conveying that the speaker is not put off by the decay but entranced by it.
“Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell”
-Synathesia (mixing of senses). The sound of the flies is palable- thick and substantial. Gauze has medical connotations a thin fabric to bandage wounds
“Miss walls would tell us how./The daddy frog was called a bullfrog”
-Childish language from his primary school teacher, conveying his youth and innocence
“And how we croaked and how the mamma frog/Laid hundreds of little eggs”
-Polysyndelon as if an enthuatsic child is reciting what he has learned breathlessly
-the fact he does not use more sophisticated vocab. Suggest his fascination ended in his youth his language didn’t evolve
Stanza 1 - quote links
“Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles” + “Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell”
“Miss walls would tell us how/The daddy frog was called a bullfrog” + “ And how he croaked and how the mammy frog/Laid hundreds of little eggs”
“The slap and pop were obscene threats. Some sat”
-onomatopoeic and plosives are powerfully evocative combining with guttural “g” and “k” and assonat “o” sound create a discordant sense of discomfort.
“Poised like mud grenades their blunt heads farting”
-Unpleasant con for the appearance + smell of the frogs. A child might find this amusing but he is repulsed - a sign he is growing up
“I sickened, turned and ran. The great slime kings”
-Triadic structure (three versions in quick successions) conveys the intensity of his physical response leading to a fearful reaction.
-SS contrasts to the rest of the poem no longer interested in nature
“We’re gathered there for vengeance and I knew/That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it”
-no longer “mammy” and “daddy” frog now rules of the damn with viscous intentions
- A fear of what might happen - he no longer enjoys the physical sensation of touching the frogspawn. He is terrified by it.
Stanza 2 quote connections
“The slap and plop were obscene threats, some sat” + “Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting”
I sickened, turned and ran” + “We’re gathered there for vengeance and I knew/That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it”
