In Seamus Heaney's poetry, there is a recurring theme of his discourse on the past, and more primarily on important moments in time, where he came to achievements that brought him into adulthood. . In “Death of a Naturalist,” Heaney describes a moment in his childhood when he learned that nature was not as beautiful as it seemed to be when he was a naive child. Heaney does this on a deeper level in "Midterm Break" describes his experience of his younger brother's funeral and the mixed and confusing feelings he encountered, consequently learning that he was no longer a child and that he had no choice but to be exposed to reality. Robert Frost, in a sense, also describes particular moments in time, where his narrator gains consciousness. However, Frost writes more indirectly than Heaney, and overall more metaphorically. In “A Leaf Treader,” he speaks symbolically about life and death throughout the fall season. He does the same in “The Road Not Taken” where the two roads are described as a metaphor for the decisions we make in life and the inevitable regrets we face because of those decisions. In “Stopping by a Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Frost speaks directly of a moment in time, but the significant meaning is that in life it takes a moment of comfort to appreciate the peace and beauty. Heaney's "Death of a Naturalist" is about a moment in Heaney's childhood, however it is metaphorical of aging and the loss of innocence. Heaney uses the first stanza to tell the reader about his memories of the flax dams as being somewhat wonderful using colloquial language "The best of all was the hot, thick slime" to appear excited about this particular moment. The list of three "hot and thick drool" is highly onomatopoeic, consequence...... middle of paper ...... attachment or emotion. Again, Heaney repeats the use of a speech marker, to emphasize how vividly he remembers the terrible moment "The next morning I went up to the room." Unlike the rest of the poem, Heaney ultimately writes more personally, beginning with the personal pronoun "I." He describes his memory in a gentle and peaceful atmosphere: “Snowdrops and candles soothe the bedside” as opposed to the harsh and angry adjectives previously used like “choking” and “crying”. With this, Heaney becomes more and more intimate with the time he spends alone with his brother's body, and can finally have peace of mind in the face of death, while still regaining the inevitable sadness one feels with the loss of a loved one. "A four-foot box, one foot for each year", indirectly telling the reader how young his brother was and describing how unfortunate his death was..