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Death of a Naturalist- Notes (1)

Death of a Naturalist, written by Seamus Heaney, explores the shift in a child's perception of nature as he transitions from innocence to maturity. The poem begins with the child's fascination with frogspawn and the natural world, but shifts to a disturbing realization of nature's harsh realities as he encounters aggressive frogs. The title signifies the end of naive curiosity, marking the child's complex understanding of life and nature.

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12 views

Death of a Naturalist- Notes (1)

Death of a Naturalist, written by Seamus Heaney, explores the shift in a child's perception of nature as he transitions from innocence to maturity. The poem begins with the child's fascination with frogspawn and the natural world, but shifts to a disturbing realization of nature's harsh realities as he encounters aggressive frogs. The title signifies the end of naive curiosity, marking the child's complex understanding of life and nature.

Uploaded by

shauryamshs
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Death of a Naturalist

Critical Appreciation

“Death of a Naturalist” was written by the Nobel-Prize winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney. It
was published in 1966 as the title poem of Death of a Naturalist, Heaney's first book of
poetry. The book—and the poem—did much to establish Heaney’s reputation as the leading
Irish poet of his generation. The poem meditates on the relationship between human beings
and nature, and uses that relationship to explore the transition from childhood to
adolescence. As the speaker grows up, his relationship to nature changes. Instead of
enjoying the natural world with innocent curiosity, he finds it threatening and disgusting.

The poem begins by describing a flax-dam, which is a pool of water where flax is soaked to
break down the fibres. It's located in the centre of the townland, a small rural area. The
poem depicts the flax in the dam as rotting and weighed down by large chunks of grass and
soil, known as sods. The dam is depicted as being extremely hot under the sun. We see a
range of insects around the flax-dam, including bluebottles, dragonflies, and butterflies.
Bluebottles are flies that are attracted to decaying material and their constant buzzing is
depicted as a "gauze of sound".

However, the focal point of the dam, as seen through the child's eyes, is the frogspawn - the
eggs laid by frogs. The poet describes the frogspawn as a "warm thick slobber" that grew in
the shady parts of the flax-dam.

Every spring, the young poet used to collect this frogspawn in jam jars and observe them as
they developed from "jellied specks" into tadpoles. He would place these jars on windowsills
at home and on shelves at school and watch as the eggs gradually developed into swimming
tadpoles. He recalls his teacher, Miss Walls, explaining the life cycle of frogs - how the male
frog or the "daddy frog" is called a bullfrog and how it croaks. She also explained how the
female or the "mammy frog" lays hundreds of tiny eggs which make up the frogspawn. The
poet notes how the colour of the frogs could also indicate the weather: they were yellow in
the sun and turned brown in the rain.

Then, the mood of the poem shifts dramatically. On a hot day when the fields are full of cow
dung, the poet describes how the frogs seem to invade the flax-dam, their croaking
becoming louder and more aggressive. This is a sound that he had not heard before and it
disturbs him. The poet paints a vivid picture of large-bellied frogs sitting on pieces of sod,
their throats pulsating as they croak, and others hopping around, making loud, threatening
sounds. The sounds and sights of the dam are now seen as scary and disgusting, rather than
exciting and fascinating as they were before. The frogs, once a source of fascination, now
seem like "mud grenades" - dangerous and volatile.

The child in the poem is overwhelmed by the sudden shift in perception - the world that was
once familiar and safe has now become foreign and threatening. He feels sick and scared,
and runs away from the dam. The once intriguing "slime kings", the frogs, now appear to be
vengeful creatures. The young poet feels as though they are there to take revenge on him for
taking their spawn and if he were to touch the frogspawn, it would clutch onto his hand.

The poem ends on this ominous note, marking the child's transition from the innocence of
childhood to a more mature understanding of the harsh realities of nature. The title, "Death
of a Naturalist", implies the end of the poet's naive fascination with nature, replaced by a
more complex and realistic view of the natural world.

"Death of a Naturalist" is a powerful examination of the journey from innocence to


experience. Through striking imagery, contrast, and sensory language, Heaney captures the
transformation of a child's perspective as he comes to realize the complex realities of nature
and life. The 'death' referred to in the title does not signify a physical death but rather the
end of the child's naive and romanticized view of nature, marking his transition into a more
mature understanding.

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