WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature Skills for Literature and the Unseen Poetry Student Book
This document is an essay on the ways in which Heaney presents change in Death of a Naturalist. The essay covers the poem thoroughly including the title, lexis, imagery, structure and tone.
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Write about the ways in which Heaney presents change in this poem.
The title of this poem is ‘Death of a Naturalist’ which already highlights some change has occurred. ‘Death’
creates a negative, disparaging image and suggests the poem is about the loss of innocence, euphemism and
excitement on the subject of nature and childhood. Contextually, Seamus Heaney was from a family of farmers
and this poem outlines how his childhood excitement for nature changed into fear as he lost his innocence.
The lexis in this poem changes between the two stanzas. In the first stanza, nature lexis such as ‘dragonflies’
and ‘spotted butterflies’ reflect a young, naive boy vividly describing the nature around them. He is completely
consumed by nature around him, clearly in awe and in admiration of it all. The additional detail of ‘bluebottles’
links to the ‘Naturalist’ in the title as it is a more specific word to nature, which emulates his fascination with
nature. However, in the first stanza, there are words that foreshadow the coming negativity. ‘Festered’ , ‘rotted’
and ‘sweltered’ are all negative lexis that have connotations with decay and decomposition. This could
perhaps be a metaphor for how the young speaker’s innocence has been disoriented and ruined and also the
early death of Heaney’s brother The language in the second stanza juxtaposes the lexis in the first by using
military lexis such as ‘invaded’, ‘grenades’ and ‘hedges’. This creates a clear contrast to the pure depiction of
nature in the first stanza and also emphasises the tragedy of losing the fascination with nature. The use of the
military lexis could possibly link to the time period of when Heaney wrote this poem - during ‘The Troubles’,
which occured in Northern Ireland in the 1960s.
The imagery in this poem also reflects the change in age, maturity, feelings and emotions. The images drawn
out in the first stanza are full of naivety and childlike, as the boy records how he would ‘fill jampotsfull of the
jellied specks’ and ‘watch until the fattening dots burst’. This transition of the imagery in the second stanza
juxtaposingly reflects the boy’s fear and disgust, as the power of three is used in ‘I sickened, turned and ran.’
The pacing dramatically changes from the excessive eagerness to this stilted pause, implying the
awkwardness of the situation. This emphasises the inevitable change in the boy’s attitude to nature.
The structure of this poem reflects the boy’s imagination and change in thought. The first stanza is longer, with
very few full stops. The use of enjambment in ‘watch until/ the fattening’ highlights the uncontained excitement
of the boy as it almost sounds like a ramble of words and phrases. ‘This was Frogspawn.’ highlights the first
full stop in a while which could illustrate the realisation and the loss of innocence when the boys finally learn
about nature, adolescence and reproduction.
The tone of this poem fluctuates drastically, making a clear transition from start to end. The first stanza mirrors
the voice of a child, innocent and full of excitement, as seen in ‘best of all’. This depicts that the boy sees
something as mundane as nature to be bucolic, which further emphasises the tragedy of losing the love of
nature. The second stanza has a tone of fear and ‘vengeance’ which is also echoed in the last words: ‘clutch
it’, which has connotation with aggression and entrapment. The lack of freedom and reminiscent of the liberty
in nature juxtaposes the beginning words in the poem: ‘all year’ where the emphasis on time symbolises
freedom and flexibility. These views change as negative and tragic.
Overall, I think that Heaney presents change as full of negativity, nostalgia and loss of innocence.
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