Nature Poems Flashcards
1
Q
What context explains “Death of a Naturalist”?
A
Written by Seamus Heaney
Set in Ireland and written in the 1960s
Grew up in rural Ireland on a farm during his childhood
Alliterative meter and blank verse make this poem distinctly Irish
Ireland was divided between Protestants and Catholics, which is Northern Ireland and Ireland today
Was a Roman Catholic in what’s now Northern Ireland
Heaney’s four-year-old brother died in a car accident when he was young
2
Q
Which themes are presented in “Death of a Naturalist”?
A
Humans and nature
Innocence and experience
Motif: Bluebottles and frogspawn
3
Q
“the flax-dam festered” (Naturalist)
A
“Flax-dam”: a pool of plants with blue flowers
“Festered”: fermented and rotted
This is the process of making linen.
