Death of naturalist

Death of naturalist

This poem is a fertile mixture of imagery, sounds and an impression

created by nature on people’s mind. Heaney sensualises an outstanding

fear of the physical wonders of the world. He vividly describes his

childhood experience that precipitates his change as a boy from the

receptive and protected innocence of childhood to the fear and

uncertainty of adolescence. As he wonders along the pathways of

salient discovery, Heaney’s imagination bursts into life.

The title of the poem is amusingly ironic – by a naturalist we would

normally think of someone with expert scientific knowledge of living

things and ecology.

The poem ‘Death of a naturalist’ has quite a lot of emotional images

because it’s the poet’s memory and he is reminiscing. There are a

number of poetic devices to create an image. Firstly, the poet uses

the metaphor ‘in the heart of the town land’ to add interest to the

poem. He also uses languages like ‘sweltered’ and ‘punishing sun’ to

convey to the reader the hot summers day Heaney remembers. Nature is

also brought up in the poem by ...