Death of A Naturalist Flashcards
(11 cards)
Seamus Heaney Context
- Grew up in the countryside/farm surrounded by nature
- Brother died when he was 4 years old
- Irish poet
- Common themes - death, loss and memory
- Life as cyclical
Purpose
Gives readers the oppurtunity to reflect on personal childhood experience
summary
The narrator remebers how they used to collect frogspawn
He was enthusiastic about nature and the sticky frogspawn
His teacher taught him how frogspawn is produced
He was disgusted by this and sees the frogs as violent threats
Form
Lack of rhyming - unpredictable change
Blank verse - conversational
1st person - reflective of personal childhood
structure
shift in tone/perspective
from enthusiastic and delighted child
to a troubled relationship with nature as unfamiliar and threatening
key quotes
But best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn that grew like clotted water
Some sat poised like mud grenades
The great slime kings were gathered there for vengeance
Mood
Fascination - enthusiastic tone and a curious ‘naturalist’
Disgust - tone of dread and repulsion
‘Some sat poised like mud grenades’
- similie
- ‘poised’ - shows the frogs are ready adds tension and danger
- ‘mud grenades’ - combines nature and war highlighting there threatening nature
- comparison to weapons shows loss of innocence
‘But best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn that grew like clotted water’
- fascination/delight/entusiasm/desire
- similie emphasises thick quality - unnatural
- nature as both fascinating and unsettling
- Sensory imagery creates a strong physical reaction for reader
‘The great slime kings were gathered there for vengeance’
- predators
- revenge/threat/punishment
- personification - gives authority to frogs
- Dramatic language
- fear and imagination have taken over
