Summary

A swampy patch of flax has begun rotting. On hot days it gargles and releases a powerful smell. Around the flax are a variety of creatures, and collections of frog’s eggs gather in the shade. The speaker remembers going in springtime to collect the eggs in jam jars and bring them home, or to school, to watch them hatch into tadpoles. Their teacher Miss Walls taught them about frogs and the way they created hundreds of eggs called frogspawn. They also learned a trick for assessing the weather by the colour of the eggs.

One day the speaker hears an aggressive croaking coming from the frogs and sees the frogs gathered threateningly. The speaker is intimidated and disgusted; they run away, fearing they’ll be infected by the frogs’ malevolence.

Analysis

“Death of a Naturalist” opens with a visceral image of decay. A...