Death of a Naturalist Flashcards
Who was Death of a Naturalist written by?
Seamus Heaney
When was Death of a Naturalist written?
1966
What are some context points about Seamus Heaney?
- Irish poet
- Nobel Prize for Literature 1995
- Teacher, lecturer and poet
- Grew up in rural Northern Ireland on his family’s farm
- Younger brother died in 1953, having a profound effect on Heaney during his writing
- Became a father in the same year he wrote Death of a Naturalist
What is the significance of the title of Death of a Naturalist?
The metaphorical death of someone’s passion in nature
“flax-dam…
…festered in the heart of the townland”
“flax had…
…rotted there”
“sweltered…
…in the punishing sun”
How is alliteration used in the first stanza of Death of a Naturalist?
F, H and S create a nursery rhyme like tone, reflecting the persona’s youth
“Bubbles…
…gargled delicately”
“bluebottles…
…dragon-flies, spotted butterflies…frogspawn”
“best of all…
…was the warm thick slobber”
“every spring…
…I would fill jampots of the jellied specks”
“wait and…
…watch until the fattening dots burst”
What does the polysyndeton in the last bit of the first stanza of Death of a Naturalist show?
Repetition of “and” shows youthfulness of persona and also shows enthusiasm and passion
“brown in…
…rain”
Where is the volta in Death of a Naturalist?
“then one hot day”
“when fields were…
…rank with cowdung”
“angry frogs…
…invade the flax-dam”
“ducked through…
…hedges”
“coarse…
…croaking that I had not heard Before”
“air was thick…
…with a bass chorus”
“gross-bellied…
…frogs were cocked on sods”
“loose necks…
…pulsed like sails”
“slap and…
…plop were obscene threats”
“poised like…
…mud-grenades, their blunt heads farting”
“I sickened…
…turned, and ran”
“great slime…
…kings were gathered there for vengeance”
“if I dipped…
…my hand the spawn would clutch it”
What is Death of a Naturalist about?
Heaney writes about the metaphorical death of his love of nature. Inspired by his brother’s death and the birth of his first child, Heaney explores the theme of loss of innocence and childhood
