DOAN - Heaney

• What is the context?

  • A child fascinated by nature but eventually becomes repulsed by it
  • Autobiographical
  • Heaney lived on a farm yet always wanted to be a poet
• All year the flax dam festered in the heart
• Bubbles gargled delicately
• Dragon-flies, spotted butterflies
• In rain
• 'Mud grenades' 'Obscene threats' 'Gathered for vengeance'
• I sickened, turned and ran
• If I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it