Growth

Prompt: Heaney deconstruct the exploratory nature of life.

Critique 1
Exploratory: done or created to find something or to learn more about something

Seamus Heaney's poetry often includes the growth of character through life events as exploration. The poem A Transgression features a young boy who wishes to be grown up and leave school early to collect sticks, though once leaving school has a sudden realization that the world is a lot scarier than it seems and at times it is nice to have the safety his parents. Other poems that feature growth of character are Death of a Naturalist, which starts light and happy with a small curious child fascinated by catching frogspawn and watching it grow into frogs, the second stanza takes a darker tone with an older boy who has over time gained a greater understanding of the reality of his actions and becomes afraid of the bull frogs out for revenge and.

It could also be interpreted that many of the poems explore the growth of the Irish spirit through the exploration of individuals, that the big boys in a transgression are the other nations gaining their independence from England, such as Australia, Canada and India mentioning 1946 the year that India began to get its independence. The idea of the speaker representing Irish spirit can also be seen in Requium for the Croppies discussing how the original rebels fighting for freedom are an eternal beacon of hope for Ireland.