storm on the island

• language

  • enjambment
  • Half rhyme
  • blank verse
• context

  • “stormont“ name given to Northern Ireland Parliament buildings hinting “storm“ could be about some violent political disturbances
• about

  narrator thinking community is well prepared for upcoming storm but confidence disappears as storm develops. ending describes fear as a storm hits the island
• we are prepared: we build our houses squat

  • Collective noun- community
  • Strong opening to emphasise the confidence and sense of security of the islanders
  • Use of caesura
• you can listen to the thing you fear forgetting that it pummels your house too

  • speaking to the reader in a chatty tone suggests reader is just as vulnerable as those affected by the poem
• strange, it is just a huge nothing that we fear

  • juxtaposition
  • Highlighting how strange the situation is
  • Storm making it seem even more menacing
• what theme is this poem?

  Power of nature
• Who wrote this poem?

  Seamus Heaney