Poetry appreciation of Death of a naturalist Essay -- English Literatu

Poetry appreciation of Death of a naturalistThis poem Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney is close thelifecycle of frogs and a childs interest in nature. As the childgrows up he looses interest in all aspects of nature. It is as ifDeath of a Naturalist was referring to the loss of honour of thechild and the love of nature he once had died inside him. Not onlythat, he now has respect for nature but not necessarily disliking itnor loving it either.The atmosphere of the first stanza is quite positive. A phrase such asThere were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies, suggests a happy moodand refers to pleasant memories to Heaney as a child. Diction such asthe warm thick slobber indicates to me the child-likeness theme ofthis poem. Which proves that it is from an adults perspective lookingback at his childhood. Heaney has do this by using the child-likevocabulary as well as a more complex and mature tone to the poem. Hehas done this so that we as the reader can recognise the difference ofthe fascination of a child and a simpler explanation of things from anadult. For example as the first stanza draws to a close we get a line thatby frogs we can tell the weather For they were yellow in the sun andbrown/in rain. This is the typical child learning something new inschool, and then(prenominal) assuming they know it all. From that I get the imageof the child telling its mother mum did you know Where as an adultwould dismiss it as exclusively a fact.By the second stanza the poem takes a rather dark turn. All thepositivity in the first stanza has been replaced with a sinister andmorbid tone. The outgrowth of the stanza Then one hot dayfieldswere rank suggests the dramatic change in ... ...tschanged and I realised that the poem was not all about frogs. It was acase of reading between the lines. Heaneys overall message fascinatedme and urged me to delve more into the subject of loss of innocence.Which set me on a train of thought. One thing in particular that madethe poem more enjoyable for myself was Heaneys flair for style. Theway in which he concentrates on the onomatopoeia in the poem is veryeffective. As I had not previously read any other of Heaneys poemsthis immediately drew my attention. another(prenominal) thing I liked was theimages he created in my mind. One of those images were (in the secondstanza) a battlefield where the child is on one side and the frogsare his foeman and the frogs are invading the land-similar to awar scenario. Therefore I would highly recommend this poet simply forHeaneys unique style of writing.