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- The poem opens with some rich description of a swampy area where flax (a kind of plant) grows.
- Heaney describes the flies buzzing, and how the sun beats down on the mucky soil.
- He pays particular attention to the slimy frogspawn (what eventually becomes tadpoles, then frogs).This sparks a memory for the speaker, and he begins to talk about how in school, his teacher had students collect the gooey frogspawn in jars to watch it turn to tadpoles as part of a science lesson about frogs.
- Then we're snapped into the present. One hot, steamy and stinky day, the speaker follows the sound of croaking frogs to its source.
- He sees more frogs than he's ever seen amongst the frogspawn (no, this is not a scene from a horror movie). They're croaking and slapping in the flax dam. Not surprisingly, he gets grossed out—so much so that he freaks out and runs away.
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- The title is metaphorical – the “death” symbolises the speaker’s loss of innocence as he grows up.
- The tone of the poem at the beginning is almost enthusiastic – the verbs “sweltered”, “festered” and “gargled” suggest the speaker is almost relishing the vile smells of the dam.
- Language such as “jampotfuls”, “fattening dots” and “mammy frog” suggest childhood innocence.
- The tone changes on “ Then one hot day” and the tone becomes more aware of the dangers – “angry frogs”.
- Final words – “spawn would clutch it” shows the contrast with when he would collect the “jellied specks” – he has grown up and no longer wants to play the games of his childhood.
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- The poem is written in iambic pentameter.
- 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.
- Childhood imagery is used to convey the youth and innocence of the speaker.
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- Seamus Heaney’s four year old brother died in a car accident when Heaney was a young boy. The death affected him badly and many of his poems are about loss of innocence.
- Heaney grew up on a farm and many of his poems reflect his upbringing.
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