Death of a naturalist

• "Warm thick slobber"

  . Use of welcoming adjectives

  . Implies Heaney finds comfort in nature, is mesmerised by it

  . Heaney grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland, this shows that his upbringing has encouraged him to find 'slobber' interesting instead if disgusting as what others would think
• "I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied specks"

  . A nostalgic memory

  . Use of alliteration 'jampotfuls...jellied" creates an upbeat mood, implying how excited Heaney was to be in the presence on nature when he was younger

  . Filling jampotfulls introduces us to a hobby Heaney did when ne was younger, showing his appreciation of nature
• "Then one hot day"

  .'then' implies that Heaney cannot remember the day his views changed. No one can place the day they transitioned from childhood to adulthood

  .'hot day' has negative connotations

  .'hot' implies overwhelming, and unbearable which is revealed at the end of the poem as how he now feels towards nature
• 'Poised like mud granades'

  .shows Heaney views them as a threat to him

  .belief that nature has the potential to harm

  .Heaney is scared on nature's power

  .this could possibly be because he turned his back on his rural life in northern Ireland in order to pursue his career as a writer, and now he is afraid of what he ince used to find comfort in
• "I sickened, turned, and ran"

  .Heaney feels nature is attacking him

  .Heaney is threatened by nature and understands its power, therefore is trying to avoid it at all costs

  .Heaneys view of nature has changed due to two possibilities: he moved away from his rural life to pursue his career, and is now unfamiliar with the farm, or that Heaney's four year old brother died in a car crash, revealing the potential nature has to harm