Death of a Naturalist Quizzes

Death of a Naturalist Quiz

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

A clump of rotting flax

Several of the frogs

Frogspawn
2 What does the character Miss Walls do in the poem?
She pushes the speaker into the flax-dam.

She punishes the speaker for bringing frog tadpoles to class.

She describes the life of the frogs.

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

Frogspawn

Bluebottle larvae

A clump of rotting flax
4 Who or what invades the flax-dam?
The frogs

The tadpoles

The British army

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

The teachers at school

The speaker and his friends

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 jam the speaker eats at school

The frogspawn

The rotting flax

The saliva of the speaker's childhood dog
8 What does the speaker compare to sails?
Gauze

The window's curtains

The frogs' dewlaps

The skirts of his teacher Miss Walls
9 When in the speaker's life does this poem take place?
In the speaker's projected future

In the speaker's imagination

In the speaker's childhood

In the present moment
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 screen in the window next to the frogspawn.

The sound of the croaking frogs.

The texture of the frogspawn.

The sound of the bluebottles.
13 How is the word "rank" used in this poem?
To compare the frogs to an army.

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 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)?
Thirteen

Seventy-five

The speaker's current age is not specified

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

The frogspawn

The tadpoles

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

Summer

Fall

Spring
17 What happens at the end of the poem?
The speaker dips his hand into the frogspawn, and it clutches him.

The speaker returns the tadpoles to the flax-dam.

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?
Disgusted and afraid

Ecstatic and invigorated

Shaken and exhausted

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

Slobber

Specks

Dots
20 This poem is in iambic pentameter.
False

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

The bullfrogs

The frogspawn

The bluebottles
22 What sorts of bugs does the speaker see in the flax-dam?
Water spiders, dragonflies, and beetles

Bluebottles, dragonflies, and butterflies

Bluebottles, mosquitoes, and beetles

Moths, butterflies, and water spiders
23 Where is the cow dung that the speaker mentions in the second stanza?
In the schoolyard

The speaker's backyard at home

The flax-dam

The fields
24 What in this poem "sweltered in the punishing sun"?
The flax-dam

Miss Walls

The frogs

The speaker
25 What does the speaker make "jampotfuls" of?
Frogspawn

Jam

Clotted water

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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