The Poet/Child (Speaker) – The speaker of the poem is the poet Seamus Heaney himself. He speaks from his childhood memory. As a young boy, he was curious and full of wonder about nature. He used to watch the flax-dam and collect frogspawn with great excitement. But later, when he revisited the same place, he felt fear and disgust toward the frogs. This change in feeling shows his journey from childhood innocence to maturity.

The Frogs – The frogs play an important role in the poem. In the beginning, they seem harmless and wonderful. But in the second stanza, they appear ugly, threatening, and powerful, like “mud grenades.” They symbolize nature’s cruelty and the boy’s realization that the world is not always innocent or safe.

Miss Walls (The Teacher) – Miss Walls is the boy’s school teacher. She teaches the class about frogs. She says how the “daddy frog” is called a bullfrog, how the “mammy frog” lays hundreds of eggs, and how the frogspawn becomes tadpoles. She represents education, knowledge, and the innocent curiosity of school life.