Compare the Ways in Which, 'Death of a Naturalist' by Seamus Heaney and 'Bullfrog' by Ted Hughes Represent Frogs.
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- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 02/03/2015 10:05 AM
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Compare the ways in which, 'Death of a Naturalist' by Seamus Heaney and 'Bullfrog' by Ted Hughes represent frogs.
In Death of a Naturalist, the poem starts with a young boy talking about his days at school collecting frog spawn. It is all very cheerful, exciting and child like. Phrases like "best of all", "daddy frog", and "mammy frog" give an understanding of what kind of age he is, probably around 8-10. The latter half of the poem snaps us, as the reader, back in to the future. Here the boy is now older, surrounded by frogs he suddenly feels frightened of them. It's no longer a little family of frogs he imagined when he was younger, but now "angry frogs" who were "invading". He now sees them as a threat, and think they're seeking "vengeance" at this point he get scared and runs away. The way his attitude changes as he grows up, from enthusiastic curiosity to horror and disgust, could be compared to the tadpole growing into the bullfrog, and how much that changes also. The way Heaney used the word "death" in the title is also good, death would normally indicate something emotional, a loss, however in this poem no one actually dies. It is used figuratively to symbolise the death of his curiosity and interest he had when he was a child about the frogs and all of nature. This again also mirrors the change of tone I previously mentioned as it shows the life cycle of both the boy and the frog. It makes the reader realise that during life a lot of things get left behind. Sometimes a possession like a favourite toy, or in this case it's his interest in nature, his imagination, and innocence.
In Bullfrog, we see the speaker actually talking to the frog. He is telling the frog of his opinion of them. It seems that he had an image of them as being magnificent creatures, but he now realises they are quite hideous- "not utterly fantastical I expected (as in some antique tale depicted)" Further into the poem the words "gout" and "wounded god" are used to describe the...
In Death of a Naturalist, the poem starts with a young boy talking about his days at school collecting frog spawn. It is all very cheerful, exciting and child like. Phrases like "best of all", "daddy frog", and "mammy frog" give an understanding of what kind of age he is, probably around 8-10. The latter half of the poem snaps us, as the reader, back in to the future. Here the boy is now older, surrounded by frogs he suddenly feels frightened of them. It's no longer a little family of frogs he imagined when he was younger, but now "angry frogs" who were "invading". He now sees them as a threat, and think they're seeking "vengeance" at this point he get scared and runs away. The way his attitude changes as he grows up, from enthusiastic curiosity to horror and disgust, could be compared to the tadpole growing into the bullfrog, and how much that changes also. The way Heaney used the word "death" in the title is also good, death would normally indicate something emotional, a loss, however in this poem no one actually dies. It is used figuratively to symbolise the death of his curiosity and interest he had when he was a child about the frogs and all of nature. This again also mirrors the change of tone I previously mentioned as it shows the life cycle of both the boy and the frog. It makes the reader realise that during life a lot of things get left behind. Sometimes a possession like a favourite toy, or in this case it's his interest in nature, his imagination, and innocence.
In Bullfrog, we see the speaker actually talking to the frog. He is telling the frog of his opinion of them. It seems that he had an image of them as being magnificent creatures, but he now realises they are quite hideous- "not utterly fantastical I expected (as in some antique tale depicted)" Further into the poem the words "gout" and "wounded god" are used to describe the...