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

Bluebottle larvae

A clump of rotting flax
2 What does the character Miss Walls do in the poem?
She punishes the speaker for bringing frog tadpoles to class.

She pushes the speaker into the flax-dam.

She describes the life of the frogs.

She rescues the speaker from the bullfrogs.
3 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?
A clump of rotting flax

Several of the frogs

Bluebottle larvae

Frogspawn
4 Who or what invades the flax-dam?
The British army

The frogs

The tadpoles

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

The teachers at school

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 jam the speaker eats at school

The frogspawn

The saliva of the speaker's childhood dog

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

The frogs' dewlaps

The skirts of his teacher Miss Walls

The window's curtains
9 When in the speaker's life does this poem take place?
In the present moment

In the speaker's projected future

In the speaker's childhood

In the speaker's imagination
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?
In jampots

At school

At home

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 sound of the bluebottles.

The texture of 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 Miss Walls's class is organized.

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

To compare the frogs to an army.
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

Seventy-five

Thirty-five

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

The frogspawn

The hedges

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

Summer

Winter

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

The speaker flees the flax-dam.

The speaker returns the tadpoles to the flax-dam.

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?
Specks

Slime

Slobber

Dots
20 This poem is in iambic pentameter.

True

False
21 What produces the "bass chorus" that the speaker mentions?
The bluebottles

The bullfrogs

The frogspawn

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, dragonflies, and butterflies

Bluebottles, mosquitoes, and beetles
23 Where is the cow dung that the speaker mentions in the second stanza?
In the schoolyard

The fields

The speaker's backyard at home

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

Miss Walls

The frogs

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

Clotted water

Frogspawn

Jam

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.

Read the Study Guide for Death of a Naturalist…

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

Lesson Plan for Death of a Naturalist