Death of a Naturalist Analysis

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  • Created by: Noah_S
  • Created on: 26-01-19 11:48
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  • Death of a Naturalist
    • Structure & Form
      • It is written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) throughout.
      • In the first stanza, the speaker in the poem is full of enthusiasm and enjoys nature.
      • In the last stanza, this changes as he becomes more aware of the dangers of the world around him.
      • The poem is set out in two stanzas with a distinct volta in the second
    • Middle
      • For they were yellow in the sun and brownIn rain.
        • Heaney uses this quote as a turning point in the poem.  Called a volta.  It represents the changing in the point of view of nature from an innocent child to a factual adult.
    • End
      • 'the angry frogs / Invaded the flax-dam'
        • The arrival of the frogs is like a military invasion - they are 'angry' and invade the damn.
      • 'Were gathered there for vengeance'
        • Heaney implies that the grown up child feels threatened by the frogs as he sees that they are here for vengeance against him.
    • Beginning
      • 'All year the flax-dam festered'  and 'green and heavy headed'
        • Heaney echos the 'death' in the title with the word 'festered'.  Additionally the flax is disturbingly personified with 'heavy headed'.
      • Bubbles gargled delicately
        • The use onomatopoeia creates images that appeal to the senses
    • Context
      • He had a rural upbringing in Ireland.
      • His young brother (4) died in a car accident when he was young boy (12).  It affected him badly and many of his poems are about of loss of innocence
    • Seamus Heaney
    • 1966

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