The speaker
The speaker in this poem seems to represent Heaney himself, looking back on his childhood, though this is not made explicitly clear.
Miss Walls
Miss Walls is a teacher the speaker had in his or her childhood. Clearly, Miss Walls's teachings were formative, for though the speaker does not go into depth about his or her feelings for the teacher, she is strongly associated with this memory.
The bullfrogs
The bullfrogs become more threatening as this poem moves forward. At first, their presence is passive, almost decorative, but by the end of the poem, the speaker runs from them.
