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1. Brief Introduction of Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney （1929-2013） is one of “the most important Irish poet since Yeats”， and also one of the best literature critics. As the Nobel committee described， he created “works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth， which exalt everyday miracles and the living past”. Since his initial collected poems Death of a Naturalist in 1965， Heaney had created 13 collections， four collected proses and two translations.
Seamus Heaney was born in a village called Mossbawn in 1939， and he was the eldest in the nine children. His parents were both pious Catholics and farmers. The family background to some extent shaped his outlooks towards nature， traditional lifestyle and culture. In his early works， Death of a Naturalist and Door into the Dark， his representative poems Digging， Blackberry-Picking and Thatcher， the poet memorized the childhood in countryside， saw his father working on the farm and grandfather， thatcher ironing and frogs laying eggs from the perspective of a child. Those scenes depict the country life， family and friends and the irish traditional culture， expressing his profound love for countryside. Accordingly， Seamus Heaney is concerned with eco-environment. Different from the 19th century poetry， Heaney introduced the daily life into poetry， presented in simple words and thus changed the traditional poem style and expanded the source of poetry creation. In domestic studies， especially the issues on national identity have been put under the spotlight in academic field while rare studies on eco-criticism have accrued till now. Domestic eco-criticism studies in the past five years are mostly interpreting Heaney’s depiction on nature， failing to dig the works systematically.
As a literature theory， eco-criticism generally focuses on three aspects： firstly， the relationship between literature and nature； secondly， eco-criticism as a study perspective to study novels， poetry and other genres； thirdly， studies on environmental issues. Meanwhile， ecoconcerns also broaden the view of literature studies， by rendering more perspectives. Eco-criticism， as a concept， combined with others such as races， genders and classes， shows its inclusiveness.
2.The Definition of Eco-criticism
Glotfelty’s definition in The Eco-criticism Reader is that "ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment" （xviii）， and one of the implicit goals of the approach is to recoup professional dignity for what Glotfelty calls the "undervalued genre of nature writing" （xxxi）. Lawrence Buell defines “‘eco-criticism’... as a study of the relationship between literature and the environment conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis” （430， n.20）.This essay aims to explore Heaney’s ecological concern in a sense of respect and equality in ecological environment. 3.Heaney’s Eco-concern in Death of a Naturalist
When it comes to the definition of natural environment， Barry in Beginning Theory divided it into four parts： the wilderness， the scenic sublime， the countryside and the domestic picturesque. Here in Death of a Naturalist as the poetry collection， natural environment mainly refers to the countryside life in Northern Ireland where Heaney lived in childhood. Death of a Naturalist （1966） as a collection of poems， was Heaney’s second major published volume. The work consists of 34 short poems and is largely concerned with childhood experiences and the formulation of adult identities， family relationships， and rural life.
（1） Eulogy to the Beauty and Harmony of Nature --A Complex of Localism
Mary Austin argues that geographical place has a more profound cultural influence than either shared language or common political affiliation. Thus there is not and never will be a single America but rather several Americas， a fact writers ignores at their peril. In her view， the best writers are those who can be shown to be genuinely indigenous – not provincial， but still recognizably a product of their natural environment. Heaney is such a poet who compose with a complex of localism—his childhood of rural life in Northern Ireland. He also implied in Personal Helicon， one of the poems in Death of A Naturalist （the poetry collection）， the homeland is the source of his inspiration and the origin of his identity. Almost in every works collected in Death of a Naturalist， he explicitly expressed his love and nostalgia to the childhood countryside life which was closely connected to nature. The eco-criticism， to some extent， should not be narrowed down to be criticizing the anthropogenic activities thatthreaten eco-balance but also include the respect and appreciation of beauty of nature.
Digging is the first poem in the volume Death of a Naturalist， and also the one that is most characterized by Heaney’s style. The ubiquitous pastoral atmosphere in his description of his grandfather and father’s labor work in fields arouses the readers’ sympathy on loving the rural life. The picture of digging turf is very picturesque especially by depicting the detailed motions of the father. “The coarse boot nestled on the lug， the shaft against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops， buried the bright edge deep…” The depth of such depiction involves far more than the memory to his father. Rather， the integrated picture also expresses the love and joy that poets connected to natural life.（ Chen Shu， 209） Readers are thus informed that it is by the closeness to nature that one can obtain such pleasure. In this sense， it actually serves as a way to eulogize the harmonious relations established between his elder generations and nature.On the other hand， the beauty of nature reveals itself from the lines of direct descripting images such as potatoes and turf. “ …To scatter new potatoes that we picked Loving their cool hardness in our hands.” “The cold smell of potato mold， the squelch and slap Of soggy peat， the curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head.” The poets spare no efforts to convey his love for those potatoes， turf， and even the tool connected to field work—the rural life. In this way， Heaney wrote that “the curt cuts of an edge through living roots awaken in my head”， indicating certain sophisticated connection that accrue between nature and his mind. Likely， it is also tempting to arouse the similar emotion inside the readers. In this way， the pure beauty of nature is accessible to readers， or viewers. （2）Harmonious Interaction between Human and Nature
Physical Dependence on Nature
In most of the poems about countryside work， the labor work in fields implies the interaction between man and his natural environment. TakingDigging as an example， the forefathers make their living by digging potatoes and turf in soil—the reformation imposed on nature. They sustain their traditional living means on the basis of reforming nature.“By God， the old man could handle a spade，/ Just like his old man. /My grandfather could cut more turf in a day/ Than any other man on Toner’s bog”. The local people have dug their living for generations， imposing their efforts on the land.In the meantime， that they live on the land-digging also suggests it is the nature that dictates their survival and thriving. It seems that humans reform the nature and employ the natural resources， while in fact their well-being depends on it， and is determined by it. Thus， the interaction between them achieves the peaceful harmony and it sustains for generations.
Emotional Bond between Human and Nature
In his works in the volume of Death of A Naturalist， Heaney starts by depicting natural life and then steps into reflection on human nature or ethics， constantly exploring the relations between nature and humanization. In Blackberry Picking Heaney mixes nature and human emotion once more. The poem consists of two very different stanzas： one that focuses on Heaney’s childhood pastime of picking berries in fields around the farm， and the final one which focuses on the inevitable decay of fruit left uneaten. The natural elements of the poem revolve around the memories of“ late August， given heavy rainfall and sun”and the“hayfields and cornfields”of Heaney’s youth. This topic seems relatively benign and peaceful， but in the second stanza Heaney’s poem takes a sharp turn into less pleasant territory. Associating the blackberry juice that covered him and his friends hands with a morbid fairy tale， Heaney describes how his“hands were peppered / With thorn pricks， our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s.” The renowned folk tale of Bluebeard is a legend about a terrible man who murders his wives， and whose hands are caked in their sticky blood. Heaney’s correlation between his hands and Bluebeard’s is a morbid example of the link between a natural occurrence and death and gloom. Blackberry-Picking is a philosophical poem， from this poem we can sense Heaney’s recall of his childhood， the best time of his lifetime and his memory of customs and traditions of Ireland which suggest that England engulfs Ireland’s specialism. The poem tells us that personal thinking always dwarf in face of the powerful nature， people cannot conquer the nature. Nature endows people with rationality by satisfying humans’sensory and emotional needs， by which people are able to discern the nature of things and thus acquire more profound knowledge. In Personal Helicon， Heaney views the well as his Helicon—the source of poetic inspiration. In Greek Mythology， Helicon was the name of the mountain where the Muses lived. The central image of the poem is a well， or a series of wells， remembered from the poet’s childhood. Heaney uses the well as a metaphor； it is a source of wonderment， enjoyment and self-reflection（as in stanzas 1， 2， 3 and 4） but also represents the unknown and fear （as in stanzas 2 and 4）. He makes heavy use of natural， earthy imagery， such as waterweed， fungus， rats， foxgloves and mulch. These images conjure a sense of childhood innocence， the poet’s ongoing fascination with the natural world and physical sensation. It finally explains why Heaney writes poems—his roots in nature bring him permanent inspiration and emotion. However， subsequently， Heaney connects nature with fear. The wells bring an encounter with a rat and a mysterious white face. The fear is not pure terror but the first encounter with the unknown. It is another manifestation of Heaney’s childhood wonder. Fear is welcome in this context. “With a clean new music in it. And one / Wasscaresome， for there， out of ferns and tall / Foxgloves， a rat slapped across my reflection.” The poet shows his fear， which implies， to some extent， human’s respect or awe to nature—a divine existence. In this sense， the eagerness and appreciation of nature and the awe to nature are coexistent， reaching a contradiction but also a balanced eco-concern.
（3） The Observing Perspective of Children—the Shift from Fascination to Abomination to Nature
Wordsworth， called the naturalist poet， said that humans’ must approach nature and return to nature if they want to survive from the catastrophic results of industrial civilization. In his view， nature is an integration of divinity， rationality and humanization. Children are the mediator between human being and nature， while nature serves as the savior of human society. According to Wordsworth， children are born with divinity. As childhood are near the time when they were born—the source where human and nature come into being together， children are more capable of connecting nature. By growing up， divinity in human nature gradually diminishes with more devotion to the mortal world. Humans dedicate themselves into knowledge acquirement and rationality， under which they indulge their temperance， trample humanity， and damage the natural environment， losing their original innocence and spirit. In Death of A Naturalist， the first stanza depicts the joy of observing the frog eggs. Firstly， there are “ flax-dam”， “ bubbles”， “dragonflies” and“spotted butterflies” constituting the natural picture in the eye of a child. Although it seems disgusting for common people， but the addresser observes them from a child’s perspective and considered them interesting and enjoyable. “But best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn that grew like clotted water in the shade of the bank”.He was more interested in the eggs laid by female frogs. “I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied/ Specks to range on window-sills at home，/ On shelves at school， and wait and watch until/ The fattening dots burst into nimble-- / Swimming tadpoles.” The child exerts intense interest and curiosity to the growing process of frog eggs. He keeps an exploring eye on the rules of the natural world for “every spring”. It can be imagined that a child observing the nimble establishes certain a connection with the natural world. He was impressed by the teaching of Miss Walls in school--“Miss Walls would tell us how the daddy frog was called a bullfrog/ And how he croaked and how the mammy frog/ Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was/Frogspawn.” These are the details and trivial things that usually neglected by adults while it leaves a deep impression on a child who has been integrated into nature. “You could tell the weather by frogs too/For they were yellow in the sun and brown / In rain.” Telling weather from the change of frog’s color is almost magic to a child， and also implies that the integrated natural environment dictates the human lives. From the perspective of a child， the detection of nature is more detailed and genuine. To some extent， that Heaney states his natural thought in a child’s tone indicates his ecological concern—the awe and love to nature， which actually is the criticism to anthropocentrism.（Cao Liqun， 15）However， seeing the “angry frogs”， “coarse croaking that never heard before”， “obscene threats”， and “slime kings”， “I sickened， turned and ran”. Having seen the scene of frog laying eggs， the child is frightened and feels disgusted. The dam gross-bellied frogs represent the maturity of a creature， including human beings. Thus， it indicates that growth and maturity alienates people from nature. On the other hand， we can also see it is a kind of limited knowledge of natural being. Nature is veiled and mysterious， which cannot be fully appreciated by human beings， even not by child. In this sense， we can conclude that Heaney picked the perspective of a child to narrate the feelings for and interactions with nature because he was in deep conviction that only children are most close to the divinity of nature and more competent to interpret nature than adults who usually put the survival and sustainment of natural environment into jeopardy. In short， poets actually appeal to keep the fear of nature. In this way， the fascination and fear of nature should co-exist. With fear， anthropogenic activities can be limited within the range of environmental bearing capacity. With appreciation and fascination on nature， it is a variant of eco-criticism concern as it sets up a notion of establishing harmonious bond between human society and natural environment. In summary， the root in Heaney’s farm home is the source of his subject matter. Firstly， his depiction of the rural life and field work displays the beauty of nature， which is a call for return to nature. The poet himself loves nature and regards it as the root that human depend on to survive. This just coincides with the core of ecological outlook， against the anthropocentrism in industrial society where people dedicate to conquer the nature to serve themselves. Also， his countryside life was stored in his childhood as a memory， so his recalling of the rural life experience is also the nostalgia to the innocent childhood. At the young age（ before 12 years old）， he is keen to nature. As Heaney himself memorized in his poems， he followed his father to plough in the field， observed frog laying eggs in pond， and nobody could keep him from wells. The child was in close contact with nature which purifies and raises him. Watching the fathers had always been digging potatoes in the fields， instead， he figured out his dream that he would rather “dig” with his pen as a writer. By looking into the personal Helicon， young Heaney “loved the dark drop， the trapped sky， the smells of water weed， fungus and dank moss”in the well， and saw his own reflection in the water though sometimes failed. This is another experience that human depends on nature and the preoccupation on himself， which embodies his ecological awareness both on human-nature relationship and on a spiritual level.
Reference
[1]David Mazel， A Century of Early Ecocriticism， University of Georgia P， 2001.
[2]Estok， Simon C. （2005）. “Shakespeare and Ecocriticism： An Analysis of ‘Home’ and ‘Power’ in King Lear.” AUMLA 103 （May 2005）： 15-41.
[3]Glotfelty， Cheryll and Harold Fromm （Eds）. The Ecocriticism Reader： Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Athens and London： University of Georgia， 1996.
[4]Heaney， Seamus. Seamus Heaney： Collected Poems and Essays. Trans. Wu De’an， et al. Beijing： The Writers Publishing House， 2000.
[5]Petter Barry， Beginning Theory， Manchester UP， 2002.
[6]曹莉群，《自然与人——解读谢默斯·希尼诗歌的新视角》《当代外国文学》， 2010 第3期，14.
[7]陈恕，《爱尔兰文学》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000.
[8]张剑，《谢默斯希尼的生平与创作》《当代外国文学》，1996 第1期，12-13， .
[9]赵一凡，《西方文论关键词》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011.
Seamus Heaney （1929-2013） is one of “the most important Irish poet since Yeats”， and also one of the best literature critics. As the Nobel committee described， he created “works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth， which exalt everyday miracles and the living past”. Since his initial collected poems Death of a Naturalist in 1965， Heaney had created 13 collections， four collected proses and two translations.
Seamus Heaney was born in a village called Mossbawn in 1939， and he was the eldest in the nine children. His parents were both pious Catholics and farmers. The family background to some extent shaped his outlooks towards nature， traditional lifestyle and culture. In his early works， Death of a Naturalist and Door into the Dark， his representative poems Digging， Blackberry-Picking and Thatcher， the poet memorized the childhood in countryside， saw his father working on the farm and grandfather， thatcher ironing and frogs laying eggs from the perspective of a child. Those scenes depict the country life， family and friends and the irish traditional culture， expressing his profound love for countryside. Accordingly， Seamus Heaney is concerned with eco-environment. Different from the 19th century poetry， Heaney introduced the daily life into poetry， presented in simple words and thus changed the traditional poem style and expanded the source of poetry creation. In domestic studies， especially the issues on national identity have been put under the spotlight in academic field while rare studies on eco-criticism have accrued till now. Domestic eco-criticism studies in the past five years are mostly interpreting Heaney’s depiction on nature， failing to dig the works systematically.
As a literature theory， eco-criticism generally focuses on three aspects： firstly， the relationship between literature and nature； secondly， eco-criticism as a study perspective to study novels， poetry and other genres； thirdly， studies on environmental issues. Meanwhile， ecoconcerns also broaden the view of literature studies， by rendering more perspectives. Eco-criticism， as a concept， combined with others such as races， genders and classes， shows its inclusiveness.
2.The Definition of Eco-criticism
Glotfelty’s definition in The Eco-criticism Reader is that "ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment" （xviii）， and one of the implicit goals of the approach is to recoup professional dignity for what Glotfelty calls the "undervalued genre of nature writing" （xxxi）. Lawrence Buell defines “‘eco-criticism’... as a study of the relationship between literature and the environment conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis” （430， n.20）.This essay aims to explore Heaney’s ecological concern in a sense of respect and equality in ecological environment. 3.Heaney’s Eco-concern in Death of a Naturalist
When it comes to the definition of natural environment， Barry in Beginning Theory divided it into four parts： the wilderness， the scenic sublime， the countryside and the domestic picturesque. Here in Death of a Naturalist as the poetry collection， natural environment mainly refers to the countryside life in Northern Ireland where Heaney lived in childhood. Death of a Naturalist （1966） as a collection of poems， was Heaney’s second major published volume. The work consists of 34 short poems and is largely concerned with childhood experiences and the formulation of adult identities， family relationships， and rural life.
（1） Eulogy to the Beauty and Harmony of Nature --A Complex of Localism
Mary Austin argues that geographical place has a more profound cultural influence than either shared language or common political affiliation. Thus there is not and never will be a single America but rather several Americas， a fact writers ignores at their peril. In her view， the best writers are those who can be shown to be genuinely indigenous – not provincial， but still recognizably a product of their natural environment. Heaney is such a poet who compose with a complex of localism—his childhood of rural life in Northern Ireland. He also implied in Personal Helicon， one of the poems in Death of A Naturalist （the poetry collection）， the homeland is the source of his inspiration and the origin of his identity. Almost in every works collected in Death of a Naturalist， he explicitly expressed his love and nostalgia to the childhood countryside life which was closely connected to nature. The eco-criticism， to some extent， should not be narrowed down to be criticizing the anthropogenic activities thatthreaten eco-balance but also include the respect and appreciation of beauty of nature.
Digging is the first poem in the volume Death of a Naturalist， and also the one that is most characterized by Heaney’s style. The ubiquitous pastoral atmosphere in his description of his grandfather and father’s labor work in fields arouses the readers’ sympathy on loving the rural life. The picture of digging turf is very picturesque especially by depicting the detailed motions of the father. “The coarse boot nestled on the lug， the shaft against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops， buried the bright edge deep…” The depth of such depiction involves far more than the memory to his father. Rather， the integrated picture also expresses the love and joy that poets connected to natural life.（ Chen Shu， 209） Readers are thus informed that it is by the closeness to nature that one can obtain such pleasure. In this sense， it actually serves as a way to eulogize the harmonious relations established between his elder generations and nature.On the other hand， the beauty of nature reveals itself from the lines of direct descripting images such as potatoes and turf. “ …To scatter new potatoes that we picked Loving their cool hardness in our hands.” “The cold smell of potato mold， the squelch and slap Of soggy peat， the curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head.” The poets spare no efforts to convey his love for those potatoes， turf， and even the tool connected to field work—the rural life. In this way， Heaney wrote that “the curt cuts of an edge through living roots awaken in my head”， indicating certain sophisticated connection that accrue between nature and his mind. Likely， it is also tempting to arouse the similar emotion inside the readers. In this way， the pure beauty of nature is accessible to readers， or viewers. （2）Harmonious Interaction between Human and Nature
Physical Dependence on Nature
In most of the poems about countryside work， the labor work in fields implies the interaction between man and his natural environment. TakingDigging as an example， the forefathers make their living by digging potatoes and turf in soil—the reformation imposed on nature. They sustain their traditional living means on the basis of reforming nature.“By God， the old man could handle a spade，/ Just like his old man. /My grandfather could cut more turf in a day/ Than any other man on Toner’s bog”. The local people have dug their living for generations， imposing their efforts on the land.In the meantime， that they live on the land-digging also suggests it is the nature that dictates their survival and thriving. It seems that humans reform the nature and employ the natural resources， while in fact their well-being depends on it， and is determined by it. Thus， the interaction between them achieves the peaceful harmony and it sustains for generations.
Emotional Bond between Human and Nature
In his works in the volume of Death of A Naturalist， Heaney starts by depicting natural life and then steps into reflection on human nature or ethics， constantly exploring the relations between nature and humanization. In Blackberry Picking Heaney mixes nature and human emotion once more. The poem consists of two very different stanzas： one that focuses on Heaney’s childhood pastime of picking berries in fields around the farm， and the final one which focuses on the inevitable decay of fruit left uneaten. The natural elements of the poem revolve around the memories of“ late August， given heavy rainfall and sun”and the“hayfields and cornfields”of Heaney’s youth. This topic seems relatively benign and peaceful， but in the second stanza Heaney’s poem takes a sharp turn into less pleasant territory. Associating the blackberry juice that covered him and his friends hands with a morbid fairy tale， Heaney describes how his“hands were peppered / With thorn pricks， our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s.” The renowned folk tale of Bluebeard is a legend about a terrible man who murders his wives， and whose hands are caked in their sticky blood. Heaney’s correlation between his hands and Bluebeard’s is a morbid example of the link between a natural occurrence and death and gloom. Blackberry-Picking is a philosophical poem， from this poem we can sense Heaney’s recall of his childhood， the best time of his lifetime and his memory of customs and traditions of Ireland which suggest that England engulfs Ireland’s specialism. The poem tells us that personal thinking always dwarf in face of the powerful nature， people cannot conquer the nature. Nature endows people with rationality by satisfying humans’sensory and emotional needs， by which people are able to discern the nature of things and thus acquire more profound knowledge. In Personal Helicon， Heaney views the well as his Helicon—the source of poetic inspiration. In Greek Mythology， Helicon was the name of the mountain where the Muses lived. The central image of the poem is a well， or a series of wells， remembered from the poet’s childhood. Heaney uses the well as a metaphor； it is a source of wonderment， enjoyment and self-reflection（as in stanzas 1， 2， 3 and 4） but also represents the unknown and fear （as in stanzas 2 and 4）. He makes heavy use of natural， earthy imagery， such as waterweed， fungus， rats， foxgloves and mulch. These images conjure a sense of childhood innocence， the poet’s ongoing fascination with the natural world and physical sensation. It finally explains why Heaney writes poems—his roots in nature bring him permanent inspiration and emotion. However， subsequently， Heaney connects nature with fear. The wells bring an encounter with a rat and a mysterious white face. The fear is not pure terror but the first encounter with the unknown. It is another manifestation of Heaney’s childhood wonder. Fear is welcome in this context. “With a clean new music in it. And one / Wasscaresome， for there， out of ferns and tall / Foxgloves， a rat slapped across my reflection.” The poet shows his fear， which implies， to some extent， human’s respect or awe to nature—a divine existence. In this sense， the eagerness and appreciation of nature and the awe to nature are coexistent， reaching a contradiction but also a balanced eco-concern.
（3） The Observing Perspective of Children—the Shift from Fascination to Abomination to Nature
Wordsworth， called the naturalist poet， said that humans’ must approach nature and return to nature if they want to survive from the catastrophic results of industrial civilization. In his view， nature is an integration of divinity， rationality and humanization. Children are the mediator between human being and nature， while nature serves as the savior of human society. According to Wordsworth， children are born with divinity. As childhood are near the time when they were born—the source where human and nature come into being together， children are more capable of connecting nature. By growing up， divinity in human nature gradually diminishes with more devotion to the mortal world. Humans dedicate themselves into knowledge acquirement and rationality， under which they indulge their temperance， trample humanity， and damage the natural environment， losing their original innocence and spirit. In Death of A Naturalist， the first stanza depicts the joy of observing the frog eggs. Firstly， there are “ flax-dam”， “ bubbles”， “dragonflies” and“spotted butterflies” constituting the natural picture in the eye of a child. Although it seems disgusting for common people， but the addresser observes them from a child’s perspective and considered them interesting and enjoyable. “But best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn that grew like clotted water in the shade of the bank”.He was more interested in the eggs laid by female frogs. “I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied/ Specks to range on window-sills at home，/ On shelves at school， and wait and watch until/ The fattening dots burst into nimble-- / Swimming tadpoles.” The child exerts intense interest and curiosity to the growing process of frog eggs. He keeps an exploring eye on the rules of the natural world for “every spring”. It can be imagined that a child observing the nimble establishes certain a connection with the natural world. He was impressed by the teaching of Miss Walls in school--“Miss Walls would tell us how the daddy frog was called a bullfrog/ And how he croaked and how the mammy frog/ Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was/Frogspawn.” These are the details and trivial things that usually neglected by adults while it leaves a deep impression on a child who has been integrated into nature. “You could tell the weather by frogs too/For they were yellow in the sun and brown / In rain.” Telling weather from the change of frog’s color is almost magic to a child， and also implies that the integrated natural environment dictates the human lives. From the perspective of a child， the detection of nature is more detailed and genuine. To some extent， that Heaney states his natural thought in a child’s tone indicates his ecological concern—the awe and love to nature， which actually is the criticism to anthropocentrism.（Cao Liqun， 15）However， seeing the “angry frogs”， “coarse croaking that never heard before”， “obscene threats”， and “slime kings”， “I sickened， turned and ran”. Having seen the scene of frog laying eggs， the child is frightened and feels disgusted. The dam gross-bellied frogs represent the maturity of a creature， including human beings. Thus， it indicates that growth and maturity alienates people from nature. On the other hand， we can also see it is a kind of limited knowledge of natural being. Nature is veiled and mysterious， which cannot be fully appreciated by human beings， even not by child. In this sense， we can conclude that Heaney picked the perspective of a child to narrate the feelings for and interactions with nature because he was in deep conviction that only children are most close to the divinity of nature and more competent to interpret nature than adults who usually put the survival and sustainment of natural environment into jeopardy. In short， poets actually appeal to keep the fear of nature. In this way， the fascination and fear of nature should co-exist. With fear， anthropogenic activities can be limited within the range of environmental bearing capacity. With appreciation and fascination on nature， it is a variant of eco-criticism concern as it sets up a notion of establishing harmonious bond between human society and natural environment. In summary， the root in Heaney’s farm home is the source of his subject matter. Firstly， his depiction of the rural life and field work displays the beauty of nature， which is a call for return to nature. The poet himself loves nature and regards it as the root that human depend on to survive. This just coincides with the core of ecological outlook， against the anthropocentrism in industrial society where people dedicate to conquer the nature to serve themselves. Also， his countryside life was stored in his childhood as a memory， so his recalling of the rural life experience is also the nostalgia to the innocent childhood. At the young age（ before 12 years old）， he is keen to nature. As Heaney himself memorized in his poems， he followed his father to plough in the field， observed frog laying eggs in pond， and nobody could keep him from wells. The child was in close contact with nature which purifies and raises him. Watching the fathers had always been digging potatoes in the fields， instead， he figured out his dream that he would rather “dig” with his pen as a writer. By looking into the personal Helicon， young Heaney “loved the dark drop， the trapped sky， the smells of water weed， fungus and dank moss”in the well， and saw his own reflection in the water though sometimes failed. This is another experience that human depends on nature and the preoccupation on himself， which embodies his ecological awareness both on human-nature relationship and on a spiritual level.
Reference
[1]David Mazel， A Century of Early Ecocriticism， University of Georgia P， 2001.
[2]Estok， Simon C. （2005）. “Shakespeare and Ecocriticism： An Analysis of ‘Home’ and ‘Power’ in King Lear.” AUMLA 103 （May 2005）： 15-41.
[3]Glotfelty， Cheryll and Harold Fromm （Eds）. The Ecocriticism Reader： Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Athens and London： University of Georgia， 1996.
[4]Heaney， Seamus. Seamus Heaney： Collected Poems and Essays. Trans. Wu De’an， et al. Beijing： The Writers Publishing House， 2000.
[5]Petter Barry， Beginning Theory， Manchester UP， 2002.
[6]曹莉群，《自然与人——解读谢默斯·希尼诗歌的新视角》《当代外国文学》， 2010 第3期，14.
[7]陈恕，《爱尔兰文学》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000.
[8]张剑，《谢默斯希尼的生平与创作》《当代外国文学》，1996 第1期，12-13， .
[9]赵一凡，《西方文论关键词》，北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2011.