Death of a Naturalist Quizzes

Death of a Naturalist Quiz

1 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?
A clump of rotting flax

Several of the frogs

Bluebottle larvae

Frogspawn
2 What does the character Miss Walls do in the poem?
She punishes the speaker for bringing frog tadpoles to class.

She describes the life of the frogs.

She pushes the speaker into the flax-dam.

She rescues the speaker from the bullfrogs.
3 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?
Several of the frogs

Frogspawn

A clump of rotting flax

Bluebottle larvae
4 Who or what invades the flax-dam?
The dragonflies

The British army

The tadpoles

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

The speaker and his friends

The teachers at school

The speaker's parents
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 rotting flax

The saliva of the speaker's childhood dog

The frogspawn

The jam the speaker eats at school
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 speaker's childhood

In the present moment

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.
True

False
11 Where does the speaker keep the frogspawn?
At home

In jampots

At school

All of the above
12 What does the speaker compare to gauze in the poem?
The texture of the frogspawn.

The sound of the croaking frogs.

The sound of the bluebottles.

The screen in the window next to the frogspawn.
13 How is the word "rank" used in this poem?
To describe the foul smell of the fertilizer in the fields.

To describe how the speaker chooses his favorite creatures in the flax-dam.

To compare the frogs to an army.

To describe how Miss Walls's class is organized.
14 How old is the speaker of the poem currently (at the time of writing this poem)?
Seventy-five

Thirteen

The speaker's current age is not specified

Thirty-five
15 What is described as "[growing]...In the shade of the banks"?
The tadpoles

The hedges

The flax

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

Fall

Winter

Spring
17 What happens at the end of the poem?
The speaker flees the flax-dam.

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

The speaker is attacked by the frogs.

The speaker returns the tadpoles to the flax-dam.
18 How does the speaker feel at the end of the poem?
Apprehensive and curious

Shaken and exhausted

Disgusted and afraid

Ecstatic and invigorated
19 Which of the following is NOT a word used to describe the frogspawn?
Specks

Slobber

Slime

Dots
20 This poem is in iambic pentameter.
False

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

The schoolchildren

The bluebottles

The bullfrogs
22 What sorts of bugs does the speaker see in the flax-dam?
Bluebottles, dragonflies, and butterflies

Water spiders, dragonflies, and beetles

Bluebottles, mosquitoes, and beetles

Moths, butterflies, and water spiders
23 Where is the cow dung that the speaker mentions in the second stanza?
The speaker's backyard at home

The fields

The flax-dam

In the schoolyard
24 What in this poem "sweltered in the punishing sun"?
Miss Walls

The frogs

The speaker

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

Frogspawn

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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