Themes in Death of a Naturalist Essay Example For Students

Themes in Death of a Naturalist Essay The poems Follower and Digging show that although we might admire our parents qualities, we cannot always lead similar lives to theirs. In Follower Heaney demonstrates his profound regard towards his fathers work in the image his eye narrowed and angled at the ground, mapping the furrow exactly because it thoroughly describes how meticulous the father was at farming. Also, Heaney actually states that he desires to be as skilled and strong as his father, I wanted to grow up and plough, to close one eye, stiffen my arm but reveals frustration since he knows that hes incapable. The line all I ever did was follow also reveals Heaneys realization that he is incapable of being a farmer but can only follow his father. In addition, in the poem Digging images such as nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods over his shoulder, going down and down portray Heaneys respect and admiration for his fathers hard labor, strength and endurance. Nevertheless, Heaney still is sure that he cannot be like his father although he admires him; he prefers to show the same qualities as him but in a different way. This idea is depicted in the lines But Ive no spade to follow men like them. Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests. Ill dig with it. Heaney reveals another theme in both the poems Death of a Naturalist and Blackberry-Picking about growing up and maturing. He portrays an innocent attitude towards nature and vanishes as he becomes older as how a childs positive, life in vibrant but intense images. Time and growing up changes a persons approach to the environment and his innocence as a child is lost. We will write a custom essay on Themes in Death of a Naturalist specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In the first part of the poem Death of a Naturalist images like bubbles gurgled delicately and best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn that grew like clotted water make us sense that the speaker feels thrilled, curious and delighted about his experience with collecting frogspawn. However, the image angry frogs invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges to a coarse croaking that I had not heard before in the second part of the poem, shows that the speaker is threatened and revolted by the experience; now he reacts with fear. Also when Heaney isolates the word before he is clearly stating that he never heard that certain sound of the frogs before; it was the first time he actually ever thought that the croaking was vulgar. In addition, the image I sickened, turned and ran reveals the speakers sense of danger as he tries to escape the frightening frogs. Likewise in Blackberry-Picking The speaker first pleasantly describes the berries, and this is revealed in the simile and you ate that first one and its flesh was sweet like thickened wine. But then the experience of collecting ripe and anticipation of eating is also destroyed since Heaney later describes how the berries as shown like a rat gray fungus, glutting on our cache and the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. Heaney also emphasizes his disappointment and the short lived nature of pleasure in the lines I always felt like crying. It wasnt fair that all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Heaney is describing the new world in the two poems in a constant tone of danger and disappointment. Even though the child speaking in the poems thinks the world around him has changed, it is actually the childs attitude which has changed as he grows up, and this growth is an unavoidable reality. Finally, Heaneys profound regard for nature is also depicted in some of his poems. For example, in the poem Waterfall the simile water goes over like villains dropped screaming to justice and the image my eye rides over and downwards, falls with hurtling tons that slabber and spill reveal the intensity and strength of the waterfall. .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b , .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .postImageUrl , .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b , .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:hover , .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:visited , .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:active { border:0!important; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:active , .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u8f20049e035d187a6ceb2076cfe7e64b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay IntroductionHeaney vividly paints a dynamic and powerful scene of nature in these lines. In addition, Heaney also shows how nature creates marvelously and almost perfectly designed creatures in his poem Trout. The simile from depths smooth-skinned as plums suggests the smoothness of the trout. The line picks off grass-seed and moths that vanish, torpedoed describes how agile and powerful the trout is for it to survive. Furthermore, Heaneys deep esteem for nature is portrayed in the poem Lovers on Aran in which romantically describes the land and the sea as two lovers. This idea is illustrated in the lines the timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass, came dazzling around to possess Aran and did sea define the land or land the sea? In conclusion, through his poems in Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaney is mostly concerned with communicating evocative memories of childhood, growing up and nature.