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Death Of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney

All year the flax-dam festered in the heartOf the townland; green and heavy headedFlax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.

Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.Bubbles gargled deliately, bluebottles!ove a strong gau"e of sound around the smell.#here were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies,But best of all was the warm thi$ slobberOf frogspawn that grew li$e lotted water%n the shade of the ban$s. &ere, every spring% would fill 'ampotfuls of the 'ellied(pe$s to range on window-sills at home,On shelves at shool, and wait and wath until#he fattening dots burst into nimble-(wimming tadpoles. )iss !alls would tell us how#he daddy frog was alled a bullfrog

And how he roa$ed and how the mammy frog*aid hundreds of little eggs and this wasFrogspawn. +ou ould tell the weather by frogs tooFor they were yellow in the sun and brown%n rain.#hen one hot day when fields were ran$!ith owdung frogspawn in the grass the angry frogs%nvaded the flax-dam; % du$ed through hedges#o a oarse roa$ing that % had not heardBefore. #he air was thi$ with a bass horus.ight down the dam gross-bellied frogs were o$edOn sods; their loose ne$s pulsed li$e sails. (ome hopped#he slap and plop were obsene threats. (ome sat

oised li$e mud grenades, their blunt heads farting.% si$ened, turned, and ran. #he great slime $ings!ere gathered there for vengeane and % $new#hat if % dipped my hand the spawn would luth it.

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Heaney's poem 'Death of a Naturalist' focuses on his experience of collecting and

watching frogspawn as a child, and his reaction when the spawn turned into frogs.

In the first ten lines of the poem Heaney uses vivid imageryto describe the setting andits sights, smell and sounds. The phrase 'flax-dam festered' in the opening line combines

assonance and alliteration, and begins to create the atmosphere of decay. 'Heavy

headed' at the end of the second line again uses assonance and alliteration in one

phrase to describe the flax that had rotted. The heaviness is emphasized further in the

third line, where the flax is 'weighted down by huge sods'. The idea that hot weather has

caused the decay is expressed in line four '!aily it sweltered in the punishing sun', a

personification of the oppressiveness of the sun. " gentler image focusing on sound is

created in '#ubbles gargled delicately' in line five. The movement of flies is described

with a metaphor 'bluebottles $ wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell', a

fascinating image combining different senses. %ine seven hints at the beauty of the

scene with its 'dragonflies, spotted butterflies'.

In line eight Heaney ma&es the first mention of frogspawn with the metaphor'warm

thic& slobber', which as a child was 'best of all' to him among the offerings of nature. In

line nine he uses the simile'grew li&e clotted water' to describe his impression of it. The

poem then switches to an account of how Heaney collected frog spawn every spring,

filling 'ampotfuls of the ellied $ spec&s', imagery that again combines alliteration

and assonance. The ars were arranged both at home and at school, then carefully

observed as the spec&s turned into 'nimble-$swimming tadpoles' another example of

assonance.

Lines fifteen to twenty-one(the end of the first stanza) are a very childli&e account of

how the schoolteacher, *iss +alls, taught Heaney's class about frogs and frogspawn.

imple, childish language features in this section, such as 'the mammy frog laid

hundreds of little eggs' there are four clauses each oined by 'and' in this sentence, ust

as though it were written by a child. The final sentence of the first stanza continues in

the same style, telling us that frogs are yellow in sunny weather but 'brown $ In rain'.

The last, brief two-word line of the first stanzaseems to underline the fact that this is

the end of a period of innocence and that a change is forthcoming.

he second stanzaof twelve lines is much shorter than the first and has a very different

tone the feeling of change is signaled by the opening phrase 'Then one hot day'...npleasant imagery begins with fields described as 'ran& $ with cowdung'. "t the end of

line two and the beginning of line three the frogs are seen as 'angry' and have 'invaded

the flax-dam' they have ta&en over in a war-li&e gesture. "s Heaney approached he

heard a 'coarse croa&ing' that was a new sound in that setting in line twenty-six he uses

the metaphor 'The air was thic& with a bass chorus' to describe how the sound filled the

place. /rogs are everywhere and they are ugly, 'gross-bellied', pictured with assonance

in the phrase 'coc&ed $ on sods'. Their flabby nec&s are described by Heaney with the

simile 'pulsed li&e sails'. The sound of their movements is expressed by onomatopoeia

'slap and plop', which obviously disgusted Heaney who felt that these were 'obscene

threats'. In line thirty their stance is described by the simile '0oised li&e mud grenades',

an image that echoes the war-li&e connotation of the word 'invaded' in line twenty-four.Heaney again voices his distaste for the sound of the frogs in the phrase 'their blunt

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heads farting'. He could not face them, and in line thirty-one he 'sic&ened, turned and

ran', such was his revulsion. He personifies them as 'great slime &ings' and in the

following line states that they had assembled at the flax-dam for revenge 'gathered

there for vengeance' for stolen frogspawn. Heaney's final line expresses how far his

imagination as a child too& hold 'if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it'. This is

a nightmare image where the spawn becomes powerful and grabs the child, reversingthe original roles.

!"#O$%N #O!NS

1!eath of a 2aturalist1

1!eath of a 2aturalist,1 the collection's second poem, details the exploits of a young boy

(possibly Heaney himself) collecting frogspawn from the beautifully-described flax-

dam, emphasized through his choice of words, 1weighted down by huge sods1 and 1

sweltered in the punishing sun1 & he narrator remembers everything he saw and

felt at those times& He then remembers his teacher telling him all about frogs in a

section that speas volumes about childhood innocence. /inally, we hear about a trip

to the flax-dam that went wrong. He feels threatened by the frogs and flees. His interest

in nature has gone- this is the death of a (naturalist( suggested in the poem's title.

he two stanzas could stand for innocence and e)perience&

he poem maes e)tensive use of onomatopoeia*(he slap and plop were obscene

threats(+, alliteration *(ampotfuls of the ellied specs(+ and a simile that

compares the behaviour of the amphibians to warfare (1ome sat poised li&e mud

grenades1) amongst other techni3ues. he poem is about a coming of age , the first

stanza containing words li&e 'mammy' gives it a childish feel. he second stanzashows the realization of what he had done and finds the frogs intimidating & !t is also a

poem about man's relationship with nature, which is extensively described in the

poem. "t the end the poem the line 1if I dipped my hand in the spawn would clutch it1

shows a reversal of roles from the first stanza, where the spea&er was collecting

frogspawn. This reversal disturbs us almost as much as the graphic imagery with which

the frogs are described. !eath of a 2aturalist is a second reflection of Heaney's point of

view on nature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogspawnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Similehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogspawnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Similehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War