Monday, 10 January 2011

January 2011

Digging video -
The youtube video of Seamus Heaney is useful as it gives an impression of how he says it and how he feels. It is a good way to understand exactly what is going on in the poem as the video helped.

The Death of a Naturalist video from youtube gave an idea of the good but also the disturbing side of nature, it helped me to understand more about Seamus Heaney's ideas.

Monday, 6 December 2010

Death of a Naturalist

Things that I would do as a child, but would not enjoy now:
Playing with toys, eg. Barbie/dolls.
Watching children's TV programmes.

How Do Your Feelings Change As You Grow Up?
As you grow up you become more mature and interested in new things.
You find new interests and like to keep up with the latest things.

I think the poem is about...
Scenes and details about memories from his childhood. Mostly from a nature lesson. All of the ideas he presents in the poem are about nature and how it can affect him. As a child he is very interested in nature's ways and how they work. He likes everything about nature at his age.
The opening lines evoke nature beautifully. This is because Heaney uses images such as the word 'heart' which create a beautiful image in the reader's head about love. This shows his love for nature.

He also creates a vivid impression of learning about the tadpoles at school by using a simile to represent them, 'frogspawn that grew like clotted water'. This suggests that there is a lot of them and that they are constantly growing. This shows how he is looking closely and paying a lot of attention to what is going on in nature.

The poem explores ideas linked to nature and growing up. This is because, Seamus Heaney has a contradictory relationship with nature.