Death Of A Naturalist Flashcards
(11 cards)
context
1939-2013
grew up in northern ireland on a farm with family
released the poem in the following year of becoming a father ( forced him to recall experience?)
describes childhood as physical, creaturely
brother died at the age of 4
death of a naturalist title
death - metaphorical death of someones passion or interest for nature, naturalist - expert or a student in natural history
overview for time and childhood
time - Heaney uses ‘Death of Naturalist’ as a vehicle to bring attention to the inevitable passing of time which results in a movement from childhood to adulthood and the eventual loss of innocence. Heaney’s own upbringing in rural Ireland would have most likely informed his own writing as a contemporary poem
childhood - Heaney uses ‘Death of Naturalist’ as a vehicle to bring attention to the inevitable transition from childhood to adulthood, where the loss of childhood innocence is often tinged with a sense of sadness and disgust. Heaney’s own upbringing in rural Ireland would have most likely informed his own writing as a contemporary poet.
opening quote 1 for ( TIME) opening
flax-dam festered in the heart of town land’
· Agricultural terms to show the rural landscape he was brought up in – contextual link.
· Verb ‘festered’ shows idea of decomposition and does not present as a picturesque/ appealing view and a negative idea of disintegration.
· The way his childhood began differs greatly from adulthood and innocence lost through passing of time.
quote 2 for ( TIME )opening
‘bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles wove a strong gauze of sounds around the smell.’
· Use of auditory (describing the sound) verb ‘gargling’ - increase in sensory (description that appeals to five senses, smell touch, etc) language allows these memories to become immersive. (захватующие)
Juxtaposition of verb ‘gargle’ and adverb ‘delicately’ indicate the difference between childhood innocence and adulthood corruption where memories are not found fascinating.
‘Bluebottles’ (carrion flies that feast on dead and decaying animals and plants) are also a reference to death, signalling the death of interest in nature
· The moment will die and revert back to adulthood
Shows he is mixing memories together but shows the progression into a fully immersive memory.
quote 1 (CHILDHOOD)opening
‘Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell’
Speaker is moving into childhood memory, demonstrated by juxtaposition of ‘gargled delicately’, reminiscent of childhood language as children find these sorts of sounds fascinating due to their lack of experience of the world.
Increase in sensory language, with use of ‘gargled’, ‘sound’, ‘smell’, as memory of childhood will be immersive, also many senses collapsed together (synaesthesia) to further demonstrate the move into the childhood memory.
quote 2 ( CHILDHOOD ) opening
‘There were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies’
Use of asyndetic list to describe what he saw in nature as a child, and this listing is indicative of childlike speech patterns.
o May be suggesting his excitement as a child to be in nature and see this wildlife, and so asyndetic list may be showing that he is unable to contain his excitement.
o His childhood innocence is what allows him to be so fascinated by nature, as he has not seen the harsher side of nature.
quote 3 (time) mid
I would fill jampotfuls of jellied specks’
Use of ‘jampotfuls’ show repeated use of infantile rhetoric. (childish or immature speech or way of speaking.)
Continuously uses enjambment in the lines to indicate a sense of breathlessness and excitement of retelling the story where the lines are not even able to fit the page similarly to the recount of memories.
quote 3 (CHILDHOOD) mid
‘Every spring I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied specks’
The phrase ‘every spring’ suggests a continued fascination with nature throughout his childhood years, due to the innocence of childhood.
The noun ‘jampotfuls’ implies he is trying to get as much of the frogspawn as possible, demonstrating his great interest in the natural world, also is a sign of his childhood, as instead of using units of measurement like an adult speaker likely would, he simply uses ‘jampotfuls’.
There is enjambment used between ‘jellied’ and ‘specks’, suggesting a breathlessness to this retelling due to his excitement stemming from the natural world in childhood.
quote 4 (TIME) end
‘angry frogs invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges to a coarse croaking’
Verbs of ‘invaded’ and ‘ducked’ shows the military like rhetoric, showing the idea of revenge.
· The frogs are seen as an enemy.
· Whereby they verb ‘ducked’ displays that they physically removed themselves from the situation as they find reproduction repulsive and ugly.
· Alliteration of ‘coarse croaking’ reinforces the auditory language but now used to scare and make children anxious as it becomes an unpleasant sound.
quote 4 (CHILDHOOD ) end
‘To a coarse croaking that I had not heard before.’
The alliterative phrase ‘coarse croaking’ to emphasise the disgust that he now feels from nature, alliterative ‘c’ sounds harsh when read, so it is meant to signify how the speaker is now repulsed by nature.
The speaker would have found these sounds fascinating in childhood, but the fact that they are now harsh sounds to him demonstrates the negative effect the loss of childhood innocence has had on his view of nature.
These were sounds he had ‘not heard before’, which demonstrates how the frogs have shown him the less appealing side of nature, thereby making him change his outlook on nature.
