death of a naturalist

Cards (15)

  • festered in the heart
  • 'rotted' 'sweltered' 'gargled'
  • but best of all
  • every spring
  • 'mammy' 'daddy'
  • i would fill jampots full of frogspawn
  • the gap between the stanzas is a volta, from joy to immediate horror
  • then one day when fields were rank
  • angry frogs
  • anthromorphorism- human emotions in animals
  • to a coarse croaking that i had not heard before
  • i sickened, turned and ran
  • context- Seamus heaney wrote about the troubles in ireland
  • war echos 'invaded' 'ducked' 'grenades'
  • compare to 'to autumn by john keates'
    • themes of nature, time passing, both admire nature in the beginning.
    • death of a naturalist hates nature as time passes
    • to autumn appreciates it even more