Death of a Naturalist (1966) is a collection of poems written by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. The collection was Heaney's first major published volume, and includes pieces which he had presented at meetings of The Belfast Group. It won the Cholmondeley Award, the Gregory Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.
The work consists of 34 short poems and is largely concerned with childhood experiences and the formulation of adult identities, family relationships, and rural life. The collection begins with one of Heaney's best-known poems, "Digging", and includes the acclaimed "Death of a Naturalist", "At a Potato Digging", "Mid-Term Break", and "Storm on the Island."
Poems
“Digging,” the first poem of his first collection, Death of a Naturalist (1966), is quoted in almost every discussion of Heaney’s work for its prescient statement of the themes that would dominate his poetry: his sensual love of his native ground; his fascination with work and all kinds of tools; his vision of poetry as a traditional, laborious, and sustaining craft, like farming. The most important thing about “Digging,” however, is that it takes the form of a promise, a commitment from the poet to his father and grandfather, whose lives were spent literally digging the soil. Heaney acknowledges that he is not a farmer, and will not follow their vocation. But at the start of his career, he vows to translate their virtues into another kind of work:
"Death of a Naturalist"
"Death of a Naturalist," the collection's second poem, details the exploits of a young boy (possibly Heaney himself) collecting frogspawn from the beautifully-described flax-dam, emphasized through his use of word choice, "weighted down by huge sods" and " sweltered in the punishing sun" . The narrator remembers everything he saw and felt at those times. He then remembers his teacher telling him all about frogs in a section that speaks volumes about childhood innocence. Finally, we hear about a trip to the flax-dam that went wrong. He feels threatened by the frogs and flees. His interest in nature has gone - this is the death of a "naturalist" suggested in the poem's title.
The poem makes extensive use of onomatopoeia ("The slap and plop were obscene threats"), alliteration ("jampotfuls of the jellied specks") and a simile that compares the behavior of the amphibians to warfare ("Some sat poised like mud grenades") amongst other techniques. The poem is about a coming of age, the first stanza containing words like 'mammy' gives it a childish feel. The second stanza shows the realization of what he had done and finds the frogs intimidating.
"Mid-Term Break"
"Mid-Term Break" is a reflection on the death of Heaney's four-year-old brother, Christopher, while Heaney was at school.[1] He describes his discovery of his brother's death, visitors paying their respects, and his encounter of his brother's corpse in its coffin the next morning.[1] The poem focuses on concrete particulars of Heaney's experience and "captures a boy’s unfolding consciousness of death."[1] The final line ("A four foot box, a foot for every year.") emphasizes death's finality.[1]
See also
References
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