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Introduction

A comparative study of "The Death of a naturalist" By Seamus Heaney and "The Prelude" By William WordsWorth. Explore in detail how both Poets write about their childhood. Seamus Heaney was born in the townland of Tamnairn at Mossbawn, county Derry, Northern Ireland on 13th April 1939. Heany was the eldest of nine children one of whom died in a road accident. Heaney's father was a farmer therefore, he lived his life on a farm. Most of his experiences came from the farm. Heany attended school in Anahorish. From this school he won a scholarship to St. Colomb's college in Londonderry. He then went to Queens college in Belfast, and gained a first class honours degree in English language and literature. He met his wife, Marie Devlin. He then began his teaching career at St. Thomas's secondary school he then moved to St. Joseph's technical college. It was during that time that he developed his interest in poetry. A number of his poems were published in magazines. During his poetic life he married Marie in 1965, they had two sons and a daughter. Seamus Heaney's first, collections of poems were published in 1966. His first poem "Death of a naturalist" was instantly accepted as a remarkable work of literature. Seamus Heaney produced a further six collections. Heaney then won the Noble prize for literature in 1995. ...read more.

Middle

The images in that stanza are of warlike. "Then one hot day when fields were rank with cow dung in the grass the angry frogs invaded the flaxdam"... What Heaney is trying to say is that it was a hot day and the fields stank, but with furious frogs. Heaney also wrote about the warlike images. For example Heaney used words and phrases such, Invaded, ducked, ect... Heaney also used words like grenades, "Poised like mud grenades". What Heaney is trying to say is that the frogs sat there waiting to go off. Thus the word grenade was used. Another word/phrase Heaney used to describe the frogs was obscene threats. "The slap and plop were obscene threats". What Heaney is trying to say is the sounds what the frogs were making were to intimidate the person. Heaney feels threatened in the flaxdam as the frogs become warlike. War like meaning they were acting as if they were at war. In the poem there are quotes like, "Gross Bellied" What the author is trying to say is that the frog's stomachs are really fat. In the poem the author uses various writing techniques, one of these techniques are onomatopoeia, this is something that's sounds like it, for example "slap, bang and wallop". These are words that are sounded like what they say. The use of words that the author used is frightening to the boy. ...read more.

Conclusion

This is very similar to Heaney's poem. This is also similar with Wordsworth's poem. After reading the both poems, 'Death of a naturalist' and 'The Prelude' I have found out that they both contain the feeling of childhood and that the two authors write about there own past. This is the same even though the poets had a huge time difference. The two authors wrote about their childhoods the two poems always started out as an innocent child and then growing up as an adult. The two poems compare very closely together as the share the sense of childhood to adult. The poem by Seamus Heaney 'Death of a naturalist' was about a young boy and his love for nature. The poem near the end shows that he begins to hate the frogs. This is the big step from childhood to adult. In the poem 'The Prelude' it starts off when a young boy steals a boat, all is well but he then realized that it was wrong then the guilt began to haunt him. This guilt was when the boy has moved from child to adult. As you can see the way the way the two poems move is much the same and not much between them. Basically you start off young and you do as you please, but as you grow older you see the things that seem to be fun more in a different way or view. Things in an adults eyes are more in your face, but in a child's eyes its easier going. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Seamus Heaney section.