Storm on the island

• 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