Explore the ways Seamus Heaney presents emotions and experiences in “Digging” and “Death of a Naturalist”

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The themes shown in both poems show similar elements of education, pride, relationships, and respect. In “Digging” the element of pride is evident in the quote “My grandfather cut more turf in a day than any man on Toner’s bog.” When he expresses this pride, it shows that he has clear affection for his grandfather, as takes pride for his actions. Another quote which shows the strong bond between grandson and grandfather is “I carried him milk in a bottle”, as it shows that he cares about his well-being. In “Death of a Naturalist”, Heaney refers to a male frog as a “bullfrog”, this is quite mature language, so this shows an element of pride that he has learned this. Heaney’s relationship with “Miss Walls” is clearly a tentative one, this is shown when she tells her students about “the mammy and daddy frog” as she is evidently using immature language to avoid touching upon a taboo subject. (The subject being sexual reproduction) This somewhat patronises Heaney and his classmates, However, she may be doing this simply to preserve the children’s innocence. She has succeeded in preserving...

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