Nature Poetry - "Compare and Contrast the boyhood experiences of Seamus Heaney and William Wordsworth"

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Nature Poetry

“Compare and Contrast the boyhood experiences of Seamus Heaney and William Wordsworth”

Seamus Heaney and William Wordsworth are two highly accredited poets who have been made famous by their excellent poetry. They both had many joyful and memorable experiences as well as very frightening ones. Both poets enjoyed an extremely close and personal relationship with nature. It was these experiences that created the inspiration needed to grasp the reader’s attention.

Seamus Heaney was born on April 13, 1939, the eldest of nine children. Heaney lived on the family farm about 30 miles northwest of Belfast and was a student at Queens College.

William Wordsworth was born on April, 7,1770 at Cockermouth on the River Derwent in the heart of the lake District. Wordsworth was a student at Cambridge.

The two poems, which I am going to compare, are “Death of a Naturalist” by Heaney and “Nutting” by Wordsworth.

Firstly I am going to look t “Death of a Naturalist” by Heaney. The title of this poem is the first thing to catch the reader’s attention. It makes the reader think what could have happened to make the young boy turn from loving nature to fearing it. There is an unpleasant atmosphere created early in this poem by the use of the words “festered,” “rotted,” and “sweltered.” These are not words we would commonly associate with nature. When you think of “nature” you think of flowers, trees etc. We do no think of the unpleasant side of nature. Heaney uses onomatopoeic phrases like, “bubbles gargled delicately.” “Gargled” and “delicately” are not two words we would associate together. Heaney describes how collecting frogspawn was his favourite time. He describes the frogspawn as “warm thick slobber.” He would keep them in jars until they “burst into nimble swimming tadpoles.” Heaney tells us of the cosy and attractive impression of nature that his teacher had created. Heaney talks about the “daddy frog” and the “mammy frog” and how when they croaked, hundreds of eggs were laid. This shows us how innocent and vulnerable to nature Heaney really was. He didn’t know the reality and seemed happy and content to be in his own “innocent” world. Heaney’s teacher was a woman who he looked up to as he says at the end of the first stanza. “You could tell the weather by the frogs, they were yellow in the sun and brown in the rain.” This was obviously a fact that Miss Walls had told him and Heaney probably included it in his poem to emphasise his innocence as a child.

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We then leave this innocent, unrealistic world, and enter into the second stanza of the poem. In this stanza, there is a comparison between Miss Wall’s description of nature and that, which is shown to us. To create unpleasant feeling, Heaney uses phrases like, “fields were rank with cow dung,” “frogs invaded the flax dam” and “coarse croaking.” These are unpleasant words but they are realistic. This was the side of nature Miss Walls had not told her class about. The reader then feels a sense of fear, as we are worried about the boy and hoping he will come to no harm. Heaney thinks the frogs have gathered here to take revenge on him for taking the frogspawn. He described them as “gross-bellied frogs.” Heaney was even threatened by the “slap” and “plop” made by the frogs when the hopped about. Heaney truly believed the frogs were there to get revenge. He sees them as “poised like mud grenades,” ready to attack at any second. Heaney could not take his eyes of the frogs, he felt endangered. Animals he had once loved had turned into “great slime kings,” which he feared. Heaney finally had enough and ran home. Heaney thought that if he tried to get more frogspawn, that they would attack him and suck him in.

In “Death of a Naturalist” Heaney starts off by telling us that every spring he collected frogspawn, and how he loved to watch it grow. By the end of the poem, Heaney’s joy had turned to guilt. He feels the frogs are after him, and he feels threatened. He now fears frogs and is sorry that he stole their spawn.

I am now going to look at “Nutting” by William Wordsworth. In this poem he describes a particular day, which you wished could last forever and would remain in your memory even through to adulthood. He expresses just how much the day meant to him in the third line, “One of those heavenly days that cannot die” indicating that he never expects to forget the incident.

At the beginning of the poem, we can see his enthusiasm as he left the cottage, “sallying forth.” He tells us how he left the house for the purpose of going nut picking. It is obvious that he was particularly optimistic about the amount of nuts he was going to gather, “With a huge wallet o’er my shoulder slung.” A lot of preparation had taken place, showing how seriously he had taken the chore. He describes himself as a “figure quaint,” wearing clothes which are “cast-off weeds,” old, ragged clothes as not to destroy his good clothes by getting them torn on the thorns and brambles- the idea conjured up by his mother, a sensible, economical woman. The reader is at ease when reading this poem. It describes the way in which a very young boy sets out to do something. Again, we get the feeling of innocence and enthusiasm from this young boy. He seems happy and very excited about what he will find on his journey. Wordsworth then describes how difficult the journey was, by using heavy phrases like, “through beds of matted fern and tangled thickets.” This emphasises the effort that he, and most young boys use to get what they want and to do what they set out to do, the reader gets the impression it is very difficult to get to the nuts; he has to fight his way through brambles etc. Then, Wordsworth, comes to “one dear nook unvisited.” This sentence conveys to the reader, the boys excitement and makes the reader aware of how exciting it was for him. Wordsworth describes it as a beautiful place where “not a broken bough,” “hazels rose,” and “tall and erect, tempting clusters hung,” suggesting the plants were in prime condition. This was the true beauty and magic of nature that Wordsworth loved. He described it as a “virgin scene.” An untouched, unharmed place, which was beautiful and intriguing, as it had a sense of purity and remained untouched by human influence. This particular description reveals Wordsworth compares nature to human beings. As Wordsworth knew nobody else would find the enchanting place- he stood and took in the sheer beauty of his surroundings and enjoyed the prospects created by it. “Breathing with such suppression of the heart.”

The discovery seems to give him a sudden feeling of wealth and contentment.

Confident that no one else with disturb him, Wordsworth takes time to enjoy it- playing in the flowers. He continues to use euphonious words and phrases like, “I sat among the flowers, and with the flowers I played.” These are innocent images of childhood that we are told of. Wordsworth is lost in a world of innocence and happiness. It is a nice impression but obviously unrealistic. The lines, “the violets of five seasons re-appear/ and fade “unseen by the human eye,” suggests that there is a lot more to nature that what we humans see. Wordsworth’s description of this beautiful place seems so perfect but yet again, unrealistic.

From, “Then up I rose” there is a sudden contrast in atmosphere. The mood of the poem changes dramatically. When Wordsworth has finished, he realises the damage he has caused, he “dragged to earth both branch and bough, with crash.” Here the reader wonders what has happened. Suspense is created. He breaks the branch of a tree and the act of violation and destruction causes him to feel a great sense of pain when he realises what he has done, “I felt a great sense of pain when I beheld.” Wordsworth then uses cacophonous words like, “merciless ravage,” “deformed” and “mutilated.” An image of rape is formed. The scene is no longer perfect, pure and untouched. The words he uses to describe the plants are now contrasting to the words he previously used. “Tall and erect” have now become “Deformed and sullied.” Wordsworth has taken the fruit from this untouched place and now he feels guilty about it. This could be compared to a man when rape is committed. He is happy that he got so many nuts, but is disheartened when he realises how much damage he has caused. He came in with “merciless ravage,” and stripped the place of all it had. He was like a thief in the night- such an apparently small action evokes a large reaction from young Wordsworth. The place previously thought to be perfect has now been spoilt to the point of devastation. Although Wordsworth should be delighted having collected so many nuts, “rich beyond the wealth of kings,” Wordsworth feels a tremendous sense of guilt and remorse.

In this poem Wordsworth is so happy to be going nutting and he is extremely happy to discover a new place. But then he feels guilt after taking all the nuts and is in despair at the damage caused. Throughout the poem there is a steady rhythm, and a sure sense of atmosphere. The poem begins describing the beauty of nature but ends in showing how the most seemingly insignificant actions can results in causing utter destruction and spoilage.

Both of the poems I studied were written by poets with vivid imaginations and the talents of being able to show various perceptions of nature. I hope I have successfully shown how both Seamus Heaney and William Wordsworth have conveyed memories of their childhood in their poems.