'death of a naturalist' - seamus heaney Flashcards
describe the writer:
- grew up in rural northern ireland on his family’s farm
- his younger brother died aged 4, which had a major effect on heaney, e.g. the loss of innocence
- became a father when he first published the poem. perhaps the birth of his child caused him to reflect on his own childhood
analyse the title:
- naturalist = expert/student in nature
- nobody actually dies in the poem, so ‘death’ is metaphorical. the death of someone’s passion or interest in nature. loss of innocence/childhood?
analyse the first 4 lines:
structure:
- alliteration (‘flax’ ‘festered’, ‘heart’ ‘heavy-headed’ ‘huge’, ‘sods’ ‘sweltered’) nursery-rhyme like tone, emphasising persona’s youth
language:
- ‘festered’, ‘rotted’ related to death and decay. foreshadow metaphorical death of naturalist
- ‘sweltered in the punishing sun’ nature is sometimes its own enemy, confrontational tone. emphasises power of nature, foreshadows the poem’s war-like ending
imagery:
- ‘flax-dam’ in town’s ‘heart’ stresses its importance to community + persona
analyse lines 5-10:
language:
- oxymoron in ‘bubbles gargles delicately’, showing how children can find pleasure in the most unusual/disgusting of things
- ‘best of all’ and ‘warm, thick slobber’ are examples of childlike language, highlighting the persona’s naivety and innocence
imagery:
- nature imagery, ‘frogspawn’, ‘dragon-flies, spotted butterflies’, ‘bluebottles’. suggests nature is alive and thriving, and that the persona is fascinated by it
analyse lines 10-15:
structure:
- ‘jampotfuls of the jellied specks’ alliteration means passion seems natural (jellied substances belong in jam pots). pluralisation makes fascination seem vast
- ‘wait and watch’ alliteration draws attention to how absorbed persona is in their passion
language:
- ‘every’ determiner suggests long-lasting fascination
imagery:
- ‘fattening dots burst’ suggests nature is alive, thriving and full of energy
analyse lines 15-21:
language:
- ‘miss walls’ ‘daddy frog’ ‘mammy frog’ persona’s youth, naivety and Irishness demonstrated
- ‘rain’ negative connotations, could foreshadow something negative upcoming
structure:
- repetition of ‘and’ mimics speech patterns of young children. also shows persona’s enthusiasm and passion
- abrupt line/stanza end could foreshadow abrupt metaphorical death in next stanza. volta
analyse lines 22-26:
language:
- ‘then’ change in time to specific event. change to more serious tone
- ‘hot’, ‘fields’, ‘grass’ nature is still the same, the persona has just changed
- ‘angry’ ‘invaded’ negative language portrays persona as now scared and uncomfortable
structure:
- ‘coarse croaking’ alliteration makes it stand out, reflecting how the sound of frogs stands out to the persona, making them feel unsettled, nervous, intimidated
imagery:
- ‘the air was thick with a bass chorus’ nature is strong, fearsome and impenetrable. the frogs seem to have ganged up on the persona, who now feels alienated
analyse lines 27-30:
structure:
- ‘slap and plop’ these onomatopoeic words are compared to ‘threats’. simply the sound of the frogs being scares the persona
language:
- negative tone from earlier is continued. ‘gross bellied’, ‘loose necks’, ‘blunt heads’. the very things the persona was fascinated by are now the things that disgust them
imagery:
- ‘frogs were cocked’, ‘pulsed like sails’, ‘poised like mud grenades’ semantic field of war. nature and man have gone from allies to enemies, the persona feels threatened
analyse lines 31-33:
language:
- ‘I sickened, turned, and ran’ (rule of three) the quick succession of verbs highlights the persona’s horrified reaction. contrasts with the descriptiveness of the rest of the poem
imagery:
- ‘great slime kings’ the frogs hold power over the persona
- ‘if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it’ the nightmarish image suggests the change is permanent and the persona won’t ever love nature again
what is the meaning of the poem?
tells the tale of a child and their relationship with nature. they are at first fascinated by it, and collect ‘jampotfuls’ of frogspawn to ‘watch’. however, one day, when the frogspawn have been replaced by frogs, the child is terrified and loses their love for nature, the ‘death of a naturalist’
what is the mood of the poem?
at first, the mood is one of fascination and passion. it then shifts to one of fear and terror as the child stumbles upon the frogs ‘poised like mud grenades’, causing them to flee in panic
what is the motivation for writing the poem?
inspired by the death of his younger brother, Heaney explores the loss of innocence in his poetry, as seen in the shift from fascination to terror in this poem.
- he also published this poem the year he became a father, so he may have been reflecting on his own childhood in rural Ireland
what themes are in death of a naturalist?
- power (power of nature, powerlessness of childhood)
- nature
- love (passion and interest)
- time (childhood, change can only occur over time)
- man (child and human emotion)
- death (metaphorical death, loss of innocence)
