Death Of A Naturalist - Seamus Heaney Flashcards
“Gargled”
“Bubbles gargled delicately”
The juxtaposition of disgust and beauty portrays the peculiar enjoyment of the grim processes he sees caused by his youthful childness. He is fascinated by the viscerality of nature with childish impulsivity.
“Warm, thick”
“But best of all was the warm thick slobber”
The visceral disgust expected in the words ‘slobber’ and the plosive ‘b’s bring disgust in the reader. However, the precedence of ‘best’ indicates his enjoyment of what is conventionally gross. Childhood interest.
‘Yellow’ ‘brown’
“Yellow in the sun and brown In rain”
Colour imagery has negative undertones with ‘brown’ concluding on a darker tone. The final word is ‘rain’ showing a more grey meaning than the green, vibrant beginning. Two word line shows how sudden the death of the naturalist was.
‘Rank’
‘When field were rank’
Nature is portrayed with a feeling of disgust contrasting initial acception of grimy aspects of nature. ‘Rank’ also has military connotations which are spotted throughout the stanza presenting the frogs with violent negativity.
‘Would clutch it’
‘If I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it’
Visceral and primitive conviction that the previously fascinating frogspawn would latch onto him and pull him into the depths. The personification of the spawn makes the threat of the frogspawn very real.
