Death Of A Naturalist (B)

Question 1

What is the story of ‘Death of a Naturalist’

Answer 1

This poem describes the memories of a young boy who has collected frogspawn. He is fascinated by it, but later returns to the scene to find it has become bullfrogs. Both the frogs and the speaker have grown and matured. The speaker is horrified by this change

Question 2

What is the context of ‘Death of a Naturalist’

Answer 2

• Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet who writes about nature.
• He lost his four year old brother and thus many of his poems are about loss of innocence.
• Naturalist means someone who is an expert in nature

Question 3

What is the messages of ‘Death of a Naturalist’

Answer 3

• Change can be difficult as we grow up
• The topic of reproduction/sexuality is embarrassing
• Nature can be horrible

Question 4

What is the structure of ‘Death of a Naturalist’

Answer 4

• The poem is divided into 2 very distinct sections
  
  • Stanza 1 is long, reflecting on the poets childhood and describing how peaceful nature can be
  • Stanza 2, the comfortable childish routine becomes a nightmarish encounter

Question 5

Death Of A Naturalist Quote;
‘All year the flax dam festered in the heat
Of the townland ‘

Answer 5

• This image foreshadows the sinister ending..
• The dam is like an infected wound which rots and decays

Question 6

Death Of A Naturalist Quote;
‘Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles
Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell’

Answer 6

• The innocent and pleasant image of the bubbles is juxtaposed with the smell
• Juxtaposition; innocence and fear, beautiful and ugly.
• The ‘gauze’ continues the metaphor of the wound

Question 7

Death Of A Naturalist Quote;
‘Here every spring
I would fill jampotfuls of the jellies’

Answer 7

• This image represents the innocence of youth.
• Spring represents rebirth and renewal.
• As a young child, the speaker is fascinated with nature

Question 8

Death Of A Naturalist Quote;
‘Miss Walls would tell us how
The daddy frog was called a bullfrog
And how he croaked’

Answer 8

• This foreshadows the speaker’s loss of innocence.
• The teacher protects them from the realities of sexual development.
• This could also represents how they are protected from the realities of the troubles

Question 9

Death Of A Naturalist Quote;
‘I ducked through hedges
To a coarse croaking that I had not heard
Before’

Answer 9

• This stanza marks a shirt in tone from a youthful exuberance to reflection and sorrow.
• He is hidden in the hedges and should not be there
• He is in an unfamiliar situation and the ‘croaking’ is rough and harsh.

Question 10

Death Of A Naturalist Quote;
‘The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat
Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting
I sickened and ran’

Answer 10

• These final images represent the danger of adulthood. The sounds are ‘threats’ and the ‘mud grenades’ suggest violence.
• The speaker is horrified by the realities of sexual development. He is repulsed by this new knowledge.