Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney

“festered”, “rotted”

• Both verbs related to decay and death

• By having language related to death early on, Heaney may be foreshadowing the eventual metaphorical death of the poem’s eponymous naturalist

“heart of the townland”

Having the flax-dam in the townland’s “heart” stresses its importance to the community and the persona

“sweltered in the punishing sun”

• Confrontational tone to this line could foreshadow the poem’s warlike ending

• Sometimes nature is at war with itself as the sun is "punishing” the flax

“Bubbles gargled delicately”

Oxymoron of “gargled delicately” shows that child can find please in the most unusual or disgusting of things

“bluebottles”, “dragon-flies, spotted butterflies”, “frogspawn”

• The high image density, suggesting that nature is alive and thriving

• The persona is fascinated by it as they notice so many of its aspects

“best of all was the warm thick slobber”

“Best of all” and “slobber” are examples of childlike language, and have been used by Heaney to highlight the persona’s naivety and innocence.

“every spring”

The determiner “every” suggests that the persona’s fascination with nature was long-lasting as they collected frogspawn over a number of years

“jampotfuls of the jellied specs”

• The alliteration makes the persona’s passion seem natural - jellied substances probably belong in jam jars

• Pluralisation of the made-up word “jampotful” suggests the persona’s passion is vast

“wait and watch until”

Alliteration draws attention to how absorbed the persona is in their passion.

“fattening dots burst”

This image suggests that nature is alive, thriving and full of energy

“daddy frog”, “mammy frog”, “Miss Walls”

Demonstrates the persona’s youth and Irishness

“And”

• Repetition of “and” mimics the speech patterns of young children

• Also shows the persona’s enthusiasm and passion

“In rain.”

• Through the negative connotations of “rain”, Heaney could be hinting to something negative on the poem’s horizon

• The abrupt ending of the stanza/line could foreshadow the abrupt metaphorical “death” in the next stanza

• Could be considered the poem’s volta

“Then”

• Change in time to specific event

• Change in tone to something more serious

“hot”, “ fields”, “grass”

• The setting has not changed from the first stanza

• Nature hasn’t change, the persona has

“angry”, “invaded”

Negative language choices show that the persona feels scared or uncomfortable

“coarse croaking”

Heaney makes the phrase “coarse croaking” stand out by using alliteration in order to reflect how the sound of the frogs stands out to the persona, making them feel unsettled, nervous or intimidated

“The air was thick with a bass chorus”

• Nature is strong, fearsome, and impenetrable

• The frogs seem to have ganged up on the persona

“gross-bellied”, “loose necks”, “absence”, “blunt heads”

The negative tone from earlier in the stanza is continue. The very thing that the persona was fascinated by are now the things that disgust them.

“frogs were cocked”, “pulsed like snails”, “Poised like mud grenades”

Images are unified by a semantic field of war, showing the nature and man have gone from being allies to enemies. This also emphasises how threatened the persona feels.

“slap and plop”

These onomatopoeic words are called “threats”, emphasising the idea of the sounds of the frogs being the thing that scares the persona.

“I sickened, turned, and ran”

• The quick succession of verbs highlights the persona’s horrified reaction.

• Sentence is short and lacks description which contrasts to the rest of the poem

• The persona has no interest in nature, just wants to get out of there

“The great slime kings”

This personification suggests that the frogs have power over the persona

“if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.”

Final nightmarish image suggests that the change is permanent, and that the persona will never love nature again.