Thursday, October 10, 2019
By Emily Ashford Essay
In the course of this essay I want to contrast and compare two poems by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney. His anthology ââ¬Å"Death of a Naturalistâ⬠was written in reflection of childhood and the loss of innocence possibly based on his own experiences. This anthology has received much praise and recognition over the past few decades. Seamus was brought up in the deep hearted countryside of Ireland. He grew up alongside nature and alongside 8 other children, although he was the oldest and maybe understood some things before the other children; such as death and the ââ¬Å"facts of life. â⬠In the poems ââ¬Å"Death of a Naturalistâ⬠he learns the true realities of nature, and how the frogspawn and frogs come to be there. In ââ¬Å"The Early Purgesâ⬠he learns not to be sympathetic toward cute and fluffy but ultimately resource draining animals. Both settings are rural rather than urban however, the each poem focuses on different areas of the countryside; ââ¬Å"Death of a Naturalistâ⬠is based around where ââ¬Å"all the year flax-damâ⬠grows. Flax ââ¬â dam it a stagnant pond where harvested flax is left to decompose to prepare for manufacture into linen and other materials. The poem is narrated by a young boy, he is recalling events in which he explored nature where the ââ¬Å"flax ââ¬â dam festered in the heart of the townland. â⬠This implies that, at this time in the boys life, nature was especially important. In ââ¬Å"The Early Purgesâ⬠events are recalled on a farm. A ââ¬Å"well runâ⬠farm where delicate and unnecessary animals are seen as ââ¬Å"scraggy wee shitsâ⬠and are slaughtered. The poem is narrated again, from a young boyââ¬â¢s perspective and perhaps even the perspective of the poet himself. Through the boys interaction with nature we are reminded and recognize the childhood innocence. In ââ¬Å"Death of a Naturalistâ⬠the boy is fascinated with nature to the extent that even the most trivial and perhaps annoying things to most adults, such as ââ¬Å"bluebottlesâ⬠and ââ¬Å"the warm thick slobber of frogspawnâ⬠become exciting to him. He likes these things ââ¬Å"best of all. â⬠The way nature is presented also shows us a childish imagination where many things are considered and elaborated in a way only a child could think. Also through the eyes of a child we learn about death, where at first this brutal inevitability ââ¬Å"frightenedâ⬠him. However, again the boyââ¬â¢s fascination with this process of killing and decaying is described in every detail. After the ââ¬Å"kittens drownâ⬠and their ââ¬Å"tiny dinâ⬠¦ sousedâ⬠the boy watches the corpses and follows the process of deterioration. Both poems involve a change in attitude, each of these changes represent a loss of innocence. In ââ¬Å"Death of a Naturalistâ⬠this change is represented from the start of the second stanza. Contrasting to the first stanza he begins to describe the flax-dam in a negative way. Where it was once ââ¬Å"green and heavy headedâ⬠it has now been invaded by ââ¬Å"angry frogsâ⬠Seamus also uses military terms and plenty of similes and metaphors; like ââ¬Å"blunt heads farting,â⬠to draw attention to how daunting nature can be to a child.
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