Death of a Naturalist Quizzes

Death of a Naturalist Quiz

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

Several of the frogs

A clump of rotting flax

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

She rescues the speaker from the bullfrogs.

She pushes the speaker into the flax-dam.

She describes the life of the frogs.
3 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?
Bluebottle larvae

Frogspawn

A clump of rotting flax

Several of the frogs
4 Who or what invades the flax-dam?
The tadpoles

The British army

The dragonflies

The frogs
5 Who are "the great slime kings?"
The speaker's parents

The teachers at school

The frogs

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

True

False
7 What does "the thick warm slobber" refer to?
The frogspawn

The rotting flax

The saliva of the speaker's childhood dog

The jam the speaker eats at school
8 What does the speaker compare to sails?
The window's curtains

The frogs' dewlaps

The skirts of his teacher Miss Walls

Gauze
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

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 screen in the window next to the frogspawn.

The sound of the bluebottles.

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

To describe the foul smell of the fertilizer in the fields.
14 How old is the speaker of the poem currently (at the time of writing this poem)?
Thirteen

The speaker's current age is not specified

Thirty-five

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

The hedges

The tadpoles

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

Winter

Fall

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

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.
18 How does the speaker feel at the end of the poem?
Apprehensive and curious

Ecstatic and invigorated

Shaken and exhausted

Disgusted and afraid
19 Which of the following is NOT a word used to describe the frogspawn?
Slime

Specks

Dots

Slobber
20 This poem is in iambic pentameter.
False

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

The bullfrogs

The bluebottles

The schoolchildren
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 flax-dam

In the schoolyard

The fields

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

The flax-dam

The speaker

Miss Walls
25 What does the speaker make "jampotfuls" of?
Clotted water

Jam

Frogspawn

Bluebottle larvae

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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