Brief Questions in Seamus Heaney’s Poems

Answer

Brief Questions in Seamus Heaney’s Poems

• What was Seamus Heaney’s first publication?

Ans: Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first collection of poems.

• When was Heaney awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Ans: In 1995.

• What is the theme of “Death of a Naturalist”?

Ans: The loss of childhood innocence and the awakening to nature’s harsh realities.

• Who was Miss Walls?

Ans: A schoolteacher who taught children about frog reproduction and their colour change with weather.

• How does Heaney create an atmosphere of fear in “Death of a Naturalist”?

Ans: Through words like “angry frogs,” “poised like mud grenades,” and onomatopoeic sounds like “slap and plop.”

• What was the nightmarish vision for the child?

Ans: The “great slime kings” and clutching frogspawn created terror in the boy’s mind.

• What is the theme of “Blackberry-Picking”?

Ans: The fleeting nature of pleasure, beauty, and human desire.

• What is the theme of “Follower”?

Ans: The parent–child relationship — the father as leader and the son as follower.

• What was the poet’s childhood ambition?

Ans: To be as fine a ploughman as his father.

• In what sense was Heaney a “nuisance” to his father?

Ans: He distracted his father while chatting and getting in the way during ploughing.

• What is the theme of “Requiem for the Croppies”?

Ans: A tribute to the Irish rebels who died at the 1798 Battle of Vinegar Hill.

• Who is the speaker in that poem?

Ans: One of the fallen rebels.

• Who formed the rebellion army at Vinegar Hill?

Ans: Peasants, priests, and tramps of Ireland.

• What was the consequence of the battle?

Ans: The Irish rebels were defeated and thousands were killed.

• What does “Croppies” refer to?

Ans: Irish rebels who cropped their hair like peasants during the 1798 uprising.

• What does the fate of the Tollund Man represent?

Ans: Ritual sacrifice linked to both pagan and modern political violence.

• What is the theme of “Punishment”?

Ans: The link between past cruelty and present political oppression in Ireland.

• Who is the girl in “Punishment”?

Ans: A prehistoric adulteress found preserved in a peat bog.

• What truth does the poet realise in “Punishment”?

Ans: He would have remained silent then, just as he does now over present injustices.

• Who is the subject of “Casualty”?

Ans: A fisherman, Louis O’Neill, a quiet friend of Heaney who defied social rules.

• What kind of man was the fisherman?

Ans: A solitary, independent man who valued personal freedom.

• What is the message of “Casualty”?

Ans: True freedom lies in quiet integrity and individual courage.

• What is the theme of “Funeral Rites”?

Ans: The search for peace and proper burial for victims of Irish violence.

• What message does Heaney give in “Funeral Rites”?

Ans: He urges an end to sectarian feuds, inspired by the saga of Gunnar.

• What is surrealism?

Ans: A literary and artistic style combining dreamlike and strange imagery.

• What is the theme of “Digging”?

Ans: The poet’s choice to “dig” with his pen instead of a spade — continuing his family’s tradition through art.

• How was young Heaney alienated from his father?

Ans: He lacked skill in farming and interrupted his father’s serious work.

• What kind of farm life does Heaney portray in “Digging”?

Ans: Hard, physical labour amid coarse earth and the smell of decay.

• Who is Miss Walls?

Ans: The teacher explaining frog life and weather changes to children.

• How does the poet criticise society in “Casualty”?

Ans: He condemns people’s blind obedience to the IRA’s orders to stay indoors.

• Who is the Tollund Man?

Ans: An Iron Age sacrificial victim found preserved in a Danish peat bog.

• What does the girl in “Punishment” symbolise?

Ans: Ireland itself — oppressed, humiliated, and betrayed by her own people.