Death of a Naturalist Biddick Academy死亡naturalist biddick Academy of a.pptVIP

Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney The poem Themes/ideas Nature Growing up Military imagery First person monologue Key Terms: Onomatopoeia Personification Simile Metaphor Blank Verse Comparisons Comparisons Sonnet (Clare) – This poem shares the childish delight that is seen in nature in the first part of ‘D of a N’, but in Clare’s poem, this in not misplaced. Patrolling Barnegat – The power of nature comes across very clearly in this poem by Whitman and it would also link to another Heaney poem – ‘Storm on the Island’. The Field Mouse – Clarke’s poem involves the children coming to understand the violent side to the natural world and there is an even clearer link to the world beyond. Review How would you react (as a young adult or as a child) to the sight of a horde of frogs invading a familiar place? How far does this poem tell the truth about frogs and how far does it tell the reader about the power of imagination? Is this poem comic, serious or both? How should it be read? Amused, horrified, embarrassed? Find quotations for each interpretation. Heaney describes the frogs heads as “farting”. As a boy he might have said this word to friends, but would not repeat it at home or write it in school work. How does it work in the poem? Is it a good idea for teachers of the young to explain how animals live by describing them in human terms, like “mammy” (mum or mummy) and “daddy”? How truthful is the title? Did Heaney really lose his interest in, and love of, nature. Or does the poem record only a dramatic change of attitude, or something else? Does this poem have anything in common with other poems by Heaney? How far does it fit into a pattern of poems that show him not to be a real country person (like his father and grandfather) - because he cant dig. What else suggests this? F/H All year the flax-dam festered in the heart Of the townland; green and heavy headed Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods. Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun. Bu