Storm on the Isalnd

• Mankind v nature


  throughout the poem, this personifiction shifts to zoormorphism with ‘spits like a tame cat turned savage’ . This could highlight how nature could be deceptive with its apparent beauty or innocence but in fact has the capacity for violence and brutality. The juxtaposition of ‘tame’ and ‘savage’ is used to portray the mercurial nature of the storm. Moreover, the alliterative ‘t’ sound of water hitting the islanders homes the poet plays on the readers senses to immerse them within the storm and coney how overwhelming it can be
• conflict and violence


  There is a semantic field of battle created through ‘pummels’, ‘exploded’ ‘salvo’ and ‘bombarded’. A lexis relaying to military violence could indicate that is it more political and initially expected. Heany could be writing about the fear that overwhelms a community when violence is on the horizon like an incoming storm
• summary 


  heavy is concerned with the conflict between man and nature. the community initially thought they were well prepared for the barrage of a storm home however this confidence dissipated as the storm escalates and is replaced by fear
• context 


  heavy is a northern irish poet who was born in northern ireland but catholic and moved to the republic. his early poems focus on identity nature and ancestry as he grew up in the rural NI.

  the first 8 letters of the poems title spell ‘stormont’. ‘stormont’ is the name given to Northern islands parliament and buildings. this hints the storm could be about some of the violent disturbances that Ireland has experienced eg between catholics and protestants
• form a d structure 


  blank verse written to make poem sound controversial this presents the experience of a story has casual, their so accustomed to the feeling of fear it has become an everyday occurrence

  cyclical structure to portray the storm as unescapable and repetitive they are stuck in a perpetual cycle of preparation waiting and recovery