goes to flax-dam, where flax plants are left to rot in water. It smells bad and is full of insects. The air is filled with the sound of buzzing bluebottles (flies) and the croaking of frogs. Even though it is dirty and smelly, the boy finds it wonderful and magical.

The boy's most favourite thing is the frogspawn. He collects frogspawn from the flax-dam.

“But best of all was the warm thick slobber

Of frogspawn…”

Heaney also describes how the boy keeps the frogspawn in jars. He enjoys watching them grow up. Here, we see the innocent happiness of childhood. The child thinks the frogs are friendly and magical. This stage of life is full of imagination, trust, and wonder. Everything feels beautiful and interesting.

Childhood Imagination and Learning: The boy also listens to his teacher, Miss Walls, who explains how frogspawn becomes frogs. She tells the children about how “the daddy frog” croaks loudly and “the mammy frog”  lays hundreds of eggs. The boy also learns that the frogs look yellow in the sun and brown in the rain.

Here, Heaney presents childhood as a time when learning feels exciting and fun. The child feels close to nature. He does not see anything frightening or dangerous. This part of the poem celebrates the innocence of childhood.

Sudden Change from Excitement to Fear: In the second part of the poem, everything changes. One hot day, the boy returns to the flax-dam. The air is full of a terrible smell of cow dung. The frogs seem huge, ugly, and angry. Their bodies look swollen and slimy. Their movements seem threatening. The boy feels they are ready to take revenge for taking their frogspawn before. He thinks:

“The great slime kings

Were gathered there for vengeance.”

The frogs seem like an army ready to attack. The boy no longer sees them as cute.

“I sickened, turned, and ran.”

The boy becomes afraid and disgusted by the frogs. He runs away. He feels that nature is now angry and dangerous, not lovely anymore. This moment shows the end of childhood innocence. He runs away, and this escape shows the emotional shift from innocence to experience.

Significance of the Title: The title “Death of a Naturalist” is very important. At the beginning of the poem, the boy is a “naturalist.” He loves the simple joy of nature. Everything seems beautiful and magical. But as he grows up, the naturalist inside him dies. So, the “death” in the title is not a real death. It is the death of childhood innocence. It is the death of simple excitement. It is the beginning of a new, more mature understanding of the world. As children grow up, they start to see the world differently. They learn that nature is not always soft and friendly.

In conclusion, “Death of a Naturalist” is a touching poem about growing up. It shows how childhood wonder changes into fear. Heaney uses simple images of frogs to describe the loss of innocence.