Storm on the island

• Who wrote the poem

  Seamus heaney (1939 - 2013)
• Brief summary

  a community of islander who are preparing for a storm, investigating the battle of nature vs man. It centres on their experience of the storm, and how they appear to get them regularly, and then how this impacts life on the island as they wait inside for it to pass.
• Seamus Heaney - context

  Northern Irish poet who was born in Northern Ireland but catholic and moved to the republic (nationalist)

  He wrote mostly about the landscape and rural life of Ireland, and grew up in a village as part of a farming community, leading to most poems about normal rural life

  His early poems focused on ancestry, identity and nature, with nature as a metaphor for human nature, using it to explore identity
• From 'death of a naturalist' 1966


  the poem is part of a 3 poem segment in the collection 'death of a naturalist' which was 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, and are home to some of irelands oldest remains and archaeology. Heaney's first collection, and the title is to demonstrate the violence of nature rather than a romanticised view of its beauty.
• The title

  .

  • Provides the event of the poem as well as the location (island)
  • suggests the poem will focus on isolation
  • no article in title, which suggests collective and generalised account because storms are frequent events
• iambic pentameter

  the poem is maintaining a constant rhythm which could be argues to reflect conversational tone. This is alongside conversational tags such as 'you might think' and 'you know what I mean' which helps the reader to feel involved and engaged. This concept reflects that only as a community can the storm be endured
• Volta

  the poem begins optimistically but the tone shifts to one of fear. The shift could reflect the final calm before a storm, and also the inability for the islanders to prepare for it properly because they cannot see it coming.
• semantic field of military language and violence

  nature is referred to in military terms throughout the poem. For example, the air 'strafes' and 'salvos'. By comparing the storm to a military plane Heaney shows the speaker that the islanders are under attack from nature. This creates a tone of violence and aggression. The excessive use of plosives such as 'blows full blast' could be reflective of bullets.
• similes

  Heaney uses similes such as 'spits like a tame cat//turned savage'. This seems oxymoronic because a tame cat shouldn't be aggressive. Perhaps the cat is a simile for nature, Heaney is suggesting that nature has a tame and docile side so it is not always like this.
• personification

  Heaney personifies nature by making it seem like it intends to attack the island. For example, it 'pummels' and the island is 'bombarded by' which implies that the storm has malicious intent to harm and damage
• focus on natural language

  Heaney suggests throughout the poem that the power of nature is unknown and the islanders have no indicators of the storms power. The line 'no stacks or stools that can be lost' shows there's no way to judge damage. Here, the poet is commenting on the tragedy and devastation of the storm. This could also reflect the political storm in the form of the northern Irish troubles