Quick quiz
Seamus Heaney
Teacher Copy: The Answers!
1.
2.
What F describes the type of dam festering in ‘Death of a Naturalist’? flax
Name two insects beginning with the letter B featured in ‘Death of a Naturalist’?
bluebottles, butterflies
3. What K is the carefully chosen verb used to describe the bells as they count
classes to a close in ‘Mid-Term Break’? knell
4. As a young boy what N was Heaney to his father, mentioned in ‘Follower’?
nuisance
5. What S is the adjective used to describe Heaney’s pen in ‘Digging’? The .......
pen rests. squat
6. What S soothed the bedside in ‘Mid-Term Break’? snowdrops
7. What C soothed the bedside in ‘Mid-Term Break’? candles
8. What T are the fattening dots featured in ‘Death of a Naturalist’? tadpoles
9. In ‘Follower’, what E, according to Heaney, describes his father’s ability at
working with a horse plough? expert
10. What V are the Slime Kings gathered waiting for, one hot day at the dam in
‘Death of a Naturalist’? vengeance
Know your names
1.
Who is Heaney’s teacher in ‘Death of a Naturalist’? Miss Walls
2.
Who is the person who tells Heaney in ‘Mid-Term Break’ that the death of his
brother is a hard blow? Big Jim Evans
3.
What is the name of the boots worn by Heaney’s father as he ploughs the fields
in ‘Follower’? hob-nailed
4.
What is the name of the trench made in the ground by the plough in ‘Follower’?
furrow
5.
What is the name of the land at the edge of the field where the plough turns
around, also featured in ‘Follower’? headrig
6.
What is the name of the bog where Heaney’s grandfather cut more turf in a day
than any other man, as we learn in ‘Digging’? Toner’s bog
7.
What is the name of the part of the spade you put your foot on, as mentioned in
‘Digging’? lug
8.
On a spade, can you name the part between the handle and the blade, as
mentioned in ‘Digging’? shaft
© 2005 www.teachit.co.uk
4298.doc
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Quick quiz
Seamus Heaney
Name the literary device
‘Death of a Naturalist’
1.
2.
3.
their loose necks pulsed like snails simile
the slap and plop were obscene threats onomatopoeia
some sat poised like mud grenades simile
‘Digging’
4.
5.
6.
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground alliteration
By God, the old man could handle a spade colloquial/exclamation
The squelch and slap of soggy peat onomatopoeia
‘Mid-Term Break’
7.
8.
9.
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow pun/irony
Wearing a poppy bruise metaphor
A four foot box, a foot for every year repetition
‘Follower’
10.
11.
At the headrig, with a single pluck caesura
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung simile
Name the poem
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
For they were yellow in the sun and brown
In rain ‘Death of a Naturalist’
Under my window, a clean rasping sound ‘Digging’
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep ‘Digging’
Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest ‘Mid-term Break’
The sod rolled over without breaking ‘Follower’
Yapping always ‘Follower’
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram ‘Mid-term Break’
Then one hot day when fields were rank
With cowdung ‘Death of a Naturalist’
The air was thick with a bass chorus ‘Death of a Naturalist’
Through living roots awaken in my head ‘Digging’
‘Death of a Naturalist’, ‘Digging’, ‘Mid-Term Break’, ‘Follower’ copyright © Seamus Heaney
© 2005 www.teachit.co.uk
4298.doc
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