Storm on the Island

• Who wrote the poem Storm on the Island?

  Seamus Heaney - A Northern Irish Poet - who's early poetry focused on rural life and identity
• Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 and died in 2013
• Why can the poem be read as being about power?

  It could be seen as the power of nature - A literal interpretation of a storm hitting a house on the Aran Islands
• Why can the poem be read as being about conflict?

  It could be a metaphor for the conflict in Northern Ireland
• The narrator describes how well prepared he and others are for a coming storm. They've built their houses to withstand the storm. But as the poem progresses, the narrator's confidence begins to dwindle and they become more and more desperate
• Why does the poem only consist of one long stanza (That is made up of many long and complex sentences)?

  The lack of stanza breaks and breathing space it overwhelms the reader . It is a non-stop barrage that reflects the non stop storm
• Why does the poem contain enjambment?

  Creates a constant barrage of information that reflects the constant barrage of the storm on the house

  
• Why does Heaney use everyday language such as : "you know what I mean"?

  The contrast between the language of everyday life and the language of conflict and power is an extended oxymoron that simply suggests that the troubles the narrator faces are everyday life
• Why does Heaney use the oxymoron "Exploding comfortably"?

  They suggest how the speaker has made sense of the conflict filled world in which he lives , even if it does not make sense to the audience
• The poems lack of rhyme / irregular rhyme scheme reflects the uncontrollable storm - The poem itself lacks control
• Why might half rhyme / pararhyme be used in the opening couplet of the poem?

  The wild storm refuses to be organised - so only a half rhyme is possible amidst the chaos - a full rhyme would have been to perfect for the representation of the storm

  
• Why might half rhyme / pararhyme be used in the closing couplet of the poem?


  The wild storm refuses to be organised - so only a half rhyme is possible amidst the chaos - a full rhyme would have been to perfect for the representation of the storm

  
• Why does the poem end as it begins with a half-rhyming couplet?

  It gives the poem a cyclical structure , creating the sense that the storm is inescapable - this is just a way of life for the narrator
• The poem is about the Aran Islands - they contain some of the oldest archaeological remains in Ireland - The poem explores both rural life and identity through a historical view of ancestry
• Why might the poem be written in the dramatic monologue form?

  So that Heaney can take the persona of an islander describing the horrors of the storm - the form also reflects the imbalance in the relationship between the speaker and nature - the lack of voice suggests nature doesn't care
• In 1922 , Northern Ireland separated from Southern Ireland , and stayed part of the UK - Heaney was born after this in 1939 so he lived through this
• Protestants considered themselves British and wanted NI to remain in the UK whereas Catholics wanted NI to leave the UK and united Ireland
• In the 1960s, when Heaney was writing the poem, there was a Civil Rights movement for the Irish Catholics to end discrimination against the Catholics . Unionists kicked off against this movement which led to the IRA being formed (They wanted to drive the British out of Ireland through through bombings and terror campaigns)
• The Good Friday agreement in 1998 was supposedly the ending of the troubles in NI , but there are still problems and tensions to this day
• The British people that came over to Ireland in the informal plantations see themselves as Irish and this created tension that still lasts tiday
• The first 8 letters of the poem spell out " Stormont " which is the Irish Parliament building - this links the poem to politics
• Why does the poet use the pronoun 'we' in the first line of the poem?

  It reflects a sense of solidarity between the Catholics
• Why does the poet use language that links to warfare, such as "blast" , "pummels" ,"exploding" , "strafes"(Repeatedly attack with gunfire), and "salvo"(Simultaneous attack of bombs gunfire)?

  The storm can be seen as a metaphor for the violent political troubles that Ireland has experienced
• Why does the poem use blank verse / Iambic pentameter?

  Heaney wants to use the tradition of English poetry and Infuse it with his Irish Ancestry - The juxtaposition of English Iambic pentameter and Irish language reflects the conflict between the Irish and the English