Symbol Analysis
Scratch that. It looks like the speaker will not be the next Jane Goodall or Steve Irwin. Our little speaker has lost some of that innocence and as a result, the naturalist in him has died. RIP. Sometimes growing up is like that. You start to find out more about life, and nature, and then the gross things aren't awesome anymore; they're just plain… gross.
- Lines 15–19: While this is probably the best example of the speaker's innocence, it also foreshadows the loss of it. He is learning about the reproduction of frogs and, the more he knows, the less innocent and oblivious he'll be—about the frogs, and perhaps about sex in general.
- Line 22: Simply using the transitional word, "then" Heaney marks the transition in the speaker from innocence to maturity. Heaney's pointing out that something's about to change.
- Lines 24–26: The speaker is making his way through the thick hedges could be a metaphor for discovery. He's working his way through the brush, and he's about to see something that will change him. He hears something that he's never heard before. This "first" is the beginning of his loss of innocence. Simply gaining experience and knowledge changes how he relates to nature.
- Line 29: He's no longer a happy-go-lucky kid romping around nature's playground. The metaphorical "death of a naturalist" Heaney is talking about happens when he sees that nature can be gross, threatening, and even frightening.
- Line 31: Even though the speaker tries to make a break for it, it's too late. He's already seen all that he needs to see to spoil his innocent relationship with the frogspawn. How much you want to bet that he never brings jars of frogspawn home again?