Storm on the island

Cards (15)

  • Storm on the island focuses on a community of islanders preparing for a storm. It is a battle of nature vs man.
  • It presents a not romanticised view of nature, unlike many poets. It is realistic in its image of danger and violence.
  • Heaney is a Catholic Northern Irish poet. He moved to the Republic and was an Irish Nationalist.
  • Storm on the Island is part of a 3 part poem series called "Death of a Naturalist", which focused on the Aran Islands and how nature shows its power there.
  • The Aran Islands are used traditionally in Irish poetry as a symbol of Irish culture. They are home to some of Ireland's oldest remains and archaeology.
  • 'We are prepared'
    Arrogance in the declarative 'we are prepared'. They are overly confident, shown by that they think they are ready to beat nature.
  • "The wizened earth has never troubled us"

    Connotes wisdom and respect
  • "Spits like a tame cat turned savage"
    • Simile
    • Irony
    • They thought they were prepared, but now nature has turned on the islanders. It was always more powerful, they never owned nature.
  • "Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear"
    • Oxymoron
    • Highlights that nature is not human, it is almost transcendent, and it exists above us. We cannot fight it, only defend our selves.
  • "blows full blast: you know what I mean"
    • Colloquialism used to connect to the reality of the islanders lives to the readers
    • Plosives give sense of violence and aggression, it suggests that nature is attacking the island. The plosives also resemble bullets- weather is as deadly as weapon.
  • plosive
    a plosive speech sound. The basic plosives in English are t, k, and p (voiceless) and d, g, and b (voiced).
  • It is written as a dramatic monologue, so it reads like a one-way conversation. This reflects the position of islanders who have no one to help them during the storm because they are isolated.
  • Iambic Pentameter
    Ten syllables in each line, with pairs of sounds going da-DA with the emphasis on the second syllable.
  • No consistent rhyme scheme could reflect the omnipotence and uncontrollability of nature
  • COMPARE TO:
    Ozymandias
    Exposure
    Extract from the prelude