In the poem "Death of a Naturalist", Seamus Heaney seems to suggest that humanisation and simplification of essentially foreign and incomprehensible phenomena often occurs through education and authority. Through the dramatic contrast in tone and diction between the first and second stanzas, Heaney emphasizes how observations of the harsh reality and threat of natural hierarchies can shatter childlike naïveté and admiration for the apparent simplicity and ordered structure of nature. This notion is already …showed first 75 words of 968 total…

…showed last 75 words of 968 total…easily these notions are accepted in an oblivious conformity of humanity. Heaney emphasises the grim realities and threats that nature can pose through this contrast between the stanzas, and seems to imply how observations of these can lead to the realisation of nature being vastly complex and riddled with inexplicable phenomena, from which humans have alienated themselves yet apparently fail to acknowledge by continuing to offer elementary and oblivious explanations of an essentially foreign entity.