Comparison of Death of a Naturalist and At Grass
Death of a Naturalist is about change of views about certain things, in this case it is about nature. The poem is written in first person. In the first line one can see that the narrator has a fascination with nature, as straight away he talks about flax, which is a plant. Plants are natural however the poet sometimes uses negative language about the plants and language not associated with plants, such as ‘festered’, so unnatural language is used to describe natural things like plants. However, the negative language being used, such as ‘punishing sun’ creates a positive scene, which reflects thought of his youth, which is what the first stanza is about. The poet, Seamus Heaney, uses opposites one after another, such as ‘townland; green’, as one does not usually associate greenery with townland. To exaggerate his love of nature to the reader, the narrator uses sensory imagery, such as ‘gargled’. He uses these childish words to try and relive his childhood memories, which is made clear when he says ‘I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied specks’ when referring to the frogspawn. However. Near the end of the first stanza, the narrator is told what really happens when the frogspawn gets older and is told using childish language, such as ‘daddy frog’ which confirms that the narrator is talking about his childhood. In the second stanza his view has completely changed. It is a contrast to the first as it is uses more violent and negative language such as ‘gross bellied frogs’. This is becase after learning what nature is really like at the end of the first stanza, and is disgusted by it, as he now knows that the frogspawn has turned into frogs and despises this fact maybe because he felt that the frogspawn was easier to handle than frogs.
