Death of a Naturalist Quizzes

Death of a Naturalist Quiz

1 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?
Several of the frogs

A clump of rotting flax

Bluebottle larvae

Frogspawn
2 What does the character Miss Walls do in the poem?
She describes the life of the frogs.

She rescues the speaker from the bullfrogs.

She punishes the speaker for bringing frog tadpoles to class.

She pushes the speaker into the flax-dam.
3 What does the speaker take from the flax-dam?
Bluebottle larvae

A clump of rotting flax

Frogspawn

Several of the frogs
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 speaker and his friends

The teachers at school

The frogs

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 saliva of the speaker's childhood dog

The frogspawn

The jam the speaker eats at school

The rotting flax
8 What does the speaker compare to sails?
The window's curtains

The frogs' dewlaps

Gauze

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 present moment

In the speaker's childhood
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 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.

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)?
Seventy-five

Thirteen

Thirty-five

The speaker's current age is not specified
15 What is described as "[growing]...In the shade of the banks"?
The tadpoles

The frogspawn

The hedges

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

Spring

Winter

Fall
17 What happens at the end of the poem?
The speaker is attacked by the frogs.

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.
18 How does the speaker feel at the end of the poem?
Shaken and exhausted

Ecstatic and invigorated

Disgusted and afraid

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

Dots

Slime

Slobber
20 This poem is in iambic pentameter.

True

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

The bluebottles

The schoolchildren

The frogspawn
22 What sorts of bugs does the speaker see in the flax-dam?
Moths, butterflies, and water spiders

Bluebottles, dragonflies, and butterflies

Bluebottles, mosquitoes, and beetles

Water spiders, dragonflies, and beetles
23 Where is the cow dung that the speaker mentions in the second stanza?
The speaker's backyard at home

In the schoolyard

The flax-dam

The fields
24 What in this poem "sweltered in the punishing sun"?
Miss Walls

The flax-dam

The frogs

The speaker
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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