‘Death of a Naturalist’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘Field Mouse’ by Gillian Clarke Both Explore the Theme of Nature. Compare Both Poems and Their Treatment of This Them and Then Compare Them to Two Poems in the Pre- 1914
‘Death of a Naturalist’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘Field Mouse’ by Gillian Clarke both explore the theme of nature. Compare both poems and their treatment of this them and then compare them to two poems in the pre- 1914 collection. (‘The Eagle’, Tennyson and ‘Patrolling Barnegat’, Whitman)
‘Death of a naturalist’ is a poem about the views, of a little boy, on nature. It begins positive as he likes the frogspawn; ‘best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn’. However as he grows he believes that nature is not all positive and that now the frogs are ‘great slime kings.’ The poem Field Mouse’ appears to be quite calm and peaceful as they ‘cut the hay’ however it is concealing the destruction that is happening elsewhere. The third poem is ‘Patrolling Barnegat’ by Walt Whitman and this is a vivid, negative description of nature which is described as ‘demonic’. The final poem being compared is ‘The eagle’. In six lines Tennyson portrays admiration and respect for nature. The Eagle is the centre of the universe ‘ringed’ with power and as powerful as a ‘thunderbolt’.
Seamus Heaney presents a view of nature which changes overtime. As a boy he was taught to love and appreciate nature even when ‘flax rotted’ and the dam ‘festered’. The word ‘festered’ juxtaposes with the phrase ‘bubbles gargled delicately’ and together they show that even at a young age he knew that not all of nature was perfect. At a young age his main love was for the ‘warm thick slobber of frogspawn’ which he was taught to love by ‘miss walls’. It is all described in a very childish manner which portrays that he took allot of pleasure out of playing and touching it. Heaney uses onomatopoeia in the word ‘slobber’ which helps convey the image of the young boy playing with spawn slipping through his fingers.
On the other hand Clarke portrays a very different view of nature in ‘Field Mouse’. This poem is not written from a personal point of view, instead from the view point of another child who holds ‘a
‘Death of a naturalist’ is a poem about the views, of a little boy, on nature. It begins positive as he likes the frogspawn; ‘best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn’. However as he grows he believes that nature is not all positive and that now the frogs are ‘great slime kings.’ The poem Field Mouse’ appears to be quite calm and peaceful as they ‘cut the hay’ however it is concealing the destruction that is happening elsewhere. The third poem is ‘Patrolling Barnegat’ by Walt Whitman and this is a vivid, negative description of nature which is described as ‘demonic’. The final poem being compared is ‘The eagle’. In six lines Tennyson portrays admiration and respect for nature. The Eagle is the centre of the universe ‘ringed’ with power and as powerful as a ‘thunderbolt’.
Seamus Heaney presents a view of nature which changes overtime. As a boy he was taught to love and appreciate nature even when ‘flax rotted’ and the dam ‘festered’. The word ‘festered’ juxtaposes with the phrase ‘bubbles gargled delicately’ and together they show that even at a young age he knew that not all of nature was perfect. At a young age his main love was for the ‘warm thick slobber of frogspawn’ which he was taught to love by ‘miss walls’. It is all described in a very childish manner which portrays that he took allot of pleasure out of playing and touching it. Heaney uses onomatopoeia in the word ‘slobber’ which helps convey the image of the young boy playing with spawn slipping through his fingers.
On the other hand Clarke portrays a very different view of nature in ‘Field Mouse’. This poem is not written from a personal point of view, instead from the view point of another child who holds ‘a