3. Subject and Themes Farm life Danger Fear Imagination Vulnerability Nightmares � childhood fears

9. Links with other poems� Most obviously links with �Death of a Naturalist� as both poems deal with Heaney�s fear of nature and the ways in which the ordinary can become threatening or evil. The sacks of corn �move in like great blind rats� just as the frogs become �great slime kings�gathered for vengeance�. We get the sense from all of Heaney�s poems in the anthology (except for �Mid-Term Break�, perhaps) that the childhood experiences of agriculture were not happy times for him or he was unable to fit in with them.

10. Hints and Tips This is a reasonably easy poem to understand and has a number of key images and techniques that you can write about. Unfortunately, it does not link very easily with most of the other poems, although �Death of a Naturalist� would certainly be a good one. You could also link it to the idea of memories which is also depicted in �Miracle on St. David�s Day�, �Follower�, �Digging�, �Mid-Term Break�, �At Grass�, �An Unknown Girl� and �Once Upon A Time�.

11. Example Questions Look again at the poems �The Barn� and �Death of a Naturalist�. What do these poems reveal about the imaginations of the childhood Heaney? �The Barn� is a poem about memory. Choose another poem from the anthology which also focuses on memory and compare the ways in which they are depicted.