death of a naturalist

• context: Heaney's brother died in a car accident when he was young - death affected him badly and many of his poems is about the loss of innocence
• structure: first stanza, full of enthusiasm and enjoys nature. last stanza, changes as he's more aware of the dangers of the world around him
• "flax-dam festered in the heart" - 'heart' suggests it's a central place in the 'townland'. the flax-dam starts to rot/'fester' with time.
• "that if i dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it" - child states with certainty, line is more sharp with monosyllabic words.