“Death of a Naturalist” was written by the Nobel-Prize winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney. It was published in 1966 as the title poem of Death of a Naturalist, Heaney's first book of poetry. The book—and the poem—did much to establish Heaney’s reputation as the leading Irish poet of his generation. The poem meditates on the relationship between human beings and nature, and uses that relationship to explore the transition from childhood to adolescence. As the speaker grows up, his relationship to nature changes. Instead of enjoying the natural world with innocent curiosity, he finds it threatening and disgusting.

• Read the full text of “Death of a Naturalist”

• “Death of a Naturalist” Summary

• “Death of a Naturalist” Themes

  • 

    Innocence and Experience

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-33
  • 

    Human Beings and Nature

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-33

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Death of a Naturalist”

  • Lines 1-6

    All year the ...
    ... around the smell.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-10

    There were dragonflies, ...
    ... of the banks.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-15

    Here, every spring ...
    ... Swimming tadpoles.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-21

    Miss Walls would ...
    ... In rain.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-26

        Then one ...
    ... Before.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 26-30

    The air was ...
    ... blunt heads farting.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 31-33

    The great slime ...
    ... would clutch it.

    

    

    

    

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• “Death of a Naturalist” Symbols

  • 

    Bluebottles

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “bluebottles”
  • 

    Frogspawn

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “frogspawn”
    • Line 19: “Frogspawn”

• “Death of a Naturalist” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “heart / Of”
    • Lines 2-3: “headed / Flax”
    • Lines 5-6: “bluebottles / Wove”
    • Lines 8-9: “slobber / Of”
    • Lines 9-10: “water / In”
    • Lines 10-11: “spring / I”
    • Lines 11-12: “jellied / Specks”
    • Lines 12-13: “home, / On”
    • Lines 13-14: “until / The”
    • Lines 14-15: “nimble / Swimming”
    • Lines 15-16: “how / The”
    • Lines 16-17: “bullfrog / And”
    • Lines 17-18: “frog / Laid”
    • Lines 18-19: “was / Frogspawn.”
    • Lines 19-20: “too / For”
    • Lines 20-21: “brown / In”
    • Lines 22-23: “rank / With”
    • Lines 23-24: “frogs / Invaded”
    • Lines 24-25: “hedges / To”
    • Lines 25-26: “heard / Before.”
    • Lines 27-28: “cocked / On”
    • Lines 29-30: “sat / Poised”
    • Lines 31-32: “kings / Were”
    • Lines 32-33: “knew / That”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “townland; green”
    • Line 3: “there, weighted”
    • Line 5: “delicately, bluebottles”
    • Line 7: “dragonflies, spotted”
    • Line 10: “banks. Here”
    • Line 13: “school, and”
    • Line 14: “burst, into”
    • Line 15: “tadpoles. Miss”
    • Line 19: “Frogspawn. You”
    • Line 24: “flax-dam; I”
    • Line 26: “Before. The”
    • Line 28: “sails. Some”
    • Line 29: “threats. Some”
    • Line 30: “grenades, their”
    • Line 31: “sickened, turned, and,” “ran. The”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “flax,” “festered,” “heart”
    • Line 2: “heavy,” “headed”
    • Line 3: “Flax,” “had,” “huge,” “sods”
    • Line 4: “sweltered,” “sun”
    • Line 5: “Bubbles,” “gargled,” “bluebottles”
    • Line 6: “strong,” “gauze,” “sound,” “smell”
    • Line 7: “spotted,” “butterflies”
    • Line 8: “But,” “best,” “was,” “warm,” “slobber”
    • Line 11: “jampotfuls,” “jellied”
    • Line 12: “Specks,” “sills”
    • Line 13: “at,” “and,” “wait,” “and,” “watch”
    • Line 15: “tadpoles,” “Walls,” “would,” “tell”
    • Line 17: “how,” “he,” “how”
    • Line 18: “Laid,” “hundreds,” “little”
    • Line 19: “Frogspawn,” “tell,” “frogs,” “too”
    • Line 20: “For”
    • Line 21: “rain”
    • Line 22: “one,” “when,” “fields,” “were,” “rank”
    • Line 23: “With,” “frogs”
    • Line 24: “flax,” “dam,” “ducked,” “hedges”
    • Line 25: “coarse,” “croaking,” “had,” “heard”
    • Line 26: “Before,” “bass,” “chorus”
    • Line 27: “down,” “dam,” “cocked”
    • Line 28: “sods,” “sails,” “Some”
    • Line 29: “slap,” “Some,” “sat”
    • Line 31: “sickened,” “great,” “slime”
    • Line 32: “gathered”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “green,” “heavy”
    • Line 3: “rotted,” “sods”
    • Line 4: “punishing,” “sun”
    • Line 7: “dragonflies,” “butterflies”
    • Line 10: “every”
    • Line 11: “fill,” “jellied”
    • Line 12: “sills”
    • Line 14: “nimble”
    • Line 15: “Swimming”
    • Line 17: “he,” “mammy”
    • Line 19: “Frogspawn,” “frogs”
    • Line 23: “grass,” “angry”
    • Line 24: “flax”
    • Line 25: “coarse”
    • Line 26: “Before,” “chorus”
    • Line 27: “cocked”
    • Line 28: “sods,” “hopped”
    • Line 29: “plop,” “sat”
    • Line 31: “ran”
    • Line 33: “if,” “it”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1
    • Line 2
    • Line 3
    • Line 4
    • Line 5
    • Line 6
    • Line 7
    • Line 8
    • Line 9
    • Line 10
    • Line 11
    • Line 12
    • Line 13
    • Line 14
    • Line 15
    • Line 16
    • Line 17
    • Line 18
    • Line 19
    • Line 20
    • Line 21
    • Line 22
    • Line 23
    • Line 24
    • Line 25
    • Line 26
    • Line 27
    • Line 28
    • Line 29
    • Line 30
    • Line 31
    • Line 32
    • Line 33

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “in the heart / Of the townland”
    • Line 5: “Bubbles gargled delicately”
    • Lines 5-6: “bluebottles / Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.”
    • Lines 8-9: “But best of all was the warm thick slobber / Of frogspawn”
    • Lines 11-12: “jellied / Specks”
    • Line 14: “The fattening dots burst”
    • Line 26: “The air was thick with a bass chorus”
    • Line 29: “The slap and plop were obscene threats”
    • Line 30: “their blunt heads farting”
    • Lines 31-32: “The great slime kings / Were gathered there for vengeance”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-10: “frogspawn that grew like clotted water / In the shade of the banks”
    • Line 28: “their loose necks pulsed like sails”
    • Lines 29-30: “Some sat / Poised like mud grenades”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-10
    • Lines 11-13
    • Lines 14-15
    • Lines 22-26
    • Lines 27-30
    • Lines 31-33

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “Bubbles gargled delicately”
    • Line 16: “The daddy frog”
    • Line 17: “the mammy frog”
    • Lines 23-24: “the angry frogs / Invaded the flax-dam”
    • Line 26: “The air was thick with a bass chorus”
    • Lines 27-28: “Right down the dam gross bellied frogs were cocked / On sods”
    • Line 28: “ their loose necks pulsed like sails”
    • Line 29: “The slap and plop were obscene threats”
    • Lines 29-30: “Some sat / Poised like mud grenades”
    • Lines 31-33: “The great slime kings / Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew / That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.”

  • Diacope

    

    

    

    

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    Where diacope appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “flax-dam”
    • Line 3: “Flax”
    • Line 9: “frogspawn”
    • Line 16: “frog,” “bullfrog”
    • Line 17: “frog”
    • Line 19: “Frogspawn,” “frogs”
    • Line 23: “frogs”
    • Line 24: “flax-dam”
    • Line 27: “frogs”
    • Line 28: “Some”
    • Line 29: “Some”

• “Death of a Naturalist” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Flax-dam
  • Festered
  • Townland
  • Heavy headed
  • Sods
  • Gargled
  • Bluebottles
  • Slobber
  • Frogspawn
  • Clotted water
  • Jampotfuls
  • Jellied specks
  • Range
  • Fattening dots
  • Mammy
  • Cowdung
  • Gross bellied frogs
  • Cocked
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “flax-dam”; Line 24: “flax-dam”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Death of a Naturalist”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Death of a Naturalist” Speaker

• “Death of a Naturalist” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Death of a Naturalist”

• More “Death of a Naturalist” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Seamus Heaney's Biography — A detailed biography of Heaney from the Poetry Foundation.

    • "Death of a Naturalist" Read Aloud — Seamus Heaney recites his poem, "Death of a Naturalist."

    • Heaney and Nature — This brief article discusses Seamus Heaney's relationship to nature in his poetry—touching on a range of poems from across his career.

    • Heaney's 10 Best Poems — An introduction to Heaney's poetry from the Telegraph newspaper.

    • "Death of a Naturalist" First Edition — A detailed essay on the publication of the first edition of Death of a Naturalist, including a number of photos from the book.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

    • Blackberry-Picking

    • Bogland

    • Digging

    • Exposure

    • Follower

    • Mid-Term Break

    • Out of the Bag

    • Personal Helicon

    • Punishment

    • Requiem for the Croppies

    • Storm on the Island

    • The Tollund Man

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