Death of a Naturalist Quizzes

Death of a Naturalist Quiz

1 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?

Bluebottle larvae

Frogspawn

A clump of rotting flax

Several of the frogs
2 What does the character Miss Walls do in the poem?

She describes the life of the frogs.

She pushes the speaker into the flax-dam.

She rescues the speaker from the bullfrogs.

She punishes the speaker for bringing frog tadpoles to class.
3 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?

A clump of rotting flax

Bluebottle larvae

Several of the frogs

Frogspawn
4 Who or what invades the flax-dam?

The tadpoles

The dragonflies

The British army

The frogs
5 Who are "the great slime kings?"

The teachers at school

The frogs

The speaker's parents

The speaker and his friends
6 The frogspawn turns green in the sun and brown in the rain.

False

True
7 What does "the thick warm slobber" refer to?

The saliva of the speaker's childhood dog

The jam the speaker eats at school

The frogspawn

The rotting flax
8 What does the speaker compare to sails?

The window's curtains

Gauze

The skirts of his teacher Miss Walls

The frogs' dewlaps
9 When in the speaker's life does this poem take place?

In the present moment

In the speaker's childhood

In the speaker's imagination

In the speaker's projected future
10 The title of this poem refers to the death of someone the speaker cares deeply about.

False

True
11 Where does the speaker keep the frogspawn?

At home

At school

In jampots

All of the above
12 What does the speaker compare to gauze in the poem?

The texture of the frogspawn.

The sound of the bluebottles.

The screen in the window next to the frogspawn.

The sound of the croaking frogs.
13 How is the word "rank" used in this poem?

To compare the frogs to an army.

To describe how Miss Walls's class is organized.

To describe the foul smell of the fertilizer in the fields.

To describe how the speaker chooses his favorite creatures in the flax-dam.
14 How old is the speaker of the poem currently (at the time of writing this poem)?

The speaker's current age is not specified

Thirty-five

Seventy-five

Thirteen
15 What is described as "[growing]...In the shade of the banks"?

The frogspawn

The tadpoles

The hedges

The flax
16 During which season does this poem most likely occur?

Summer

Spring

Fall

Winter
17 What happens at the end of the poem?

The speaker returns the tadpoles to the flax-dam.

The speaker dips his hand into the frogspawn, and it clutches him.

The speaker is attacked by the frogs.

The speaker flees the flax-dam.
18 How does the speaker feel at the end of the poem?

Ecstatic and invigorated

Apprehensive and curious

Disgusted and afraid

Shaken and exhausted
19 Which of the following is NOT a word used to describe the frogspawn?

Slime

Dots

Slobber

Specks
20 This poem is in iambic pentameter.

False

True
21 What produces the "bass chorus" that the speaker mentions?

The bluebottles

The schoolchildren

The frogspawn

The bullfrogs
22 What sorts of bugs does the speaker see in the flax-dam?

Water spiders, dragonflies, and beetles

Moths, butterflies, and water spiders

Bluebottles, mosquitoes, and beetles

Bluebottles, dragonflies, and butterflies
23 Where is the cow dung that the speaker mentions in the second stanza?

The fields

The flax-dam

In the schoolyard

The speaker's backyard at home
24 What in this poem "sweltered in the punishing sun"?

The frogs

The speaker

Miss Walls

The flax-dam
25 What does the speaker make "jampotfuls" of?

Frogspawn

Bluebottle larvae

Jam

Clotted water

Study Guide for Death of a Naturalist

Death of a Naturalist study guide contains a biography of Seamus Heaney, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Death of a Naturalist

by Seamus Heaney

Death of a Naturalist Quiz

Death of a Naturalist Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Death of a Naturalist

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