storm on the island -heanley

• BIG IDEA- Heanley explores literally the vulnerability of man when faced by the force of nature and figuratively alludes to the political storm caused by the troubles of nothern island
• starts in media res- highlights the vunrabillity of man against unexpected nature
• we are prepared; we build our houses squat' strength of small community anaphora of we
• 'nor are there trees' barren and unsheltered more vunrability
• 'but there are no trees'
• 'spits like a tame cat'
• exploding comfterbly
• bombarded by the empty air
• semantic field- group of words that link to a particular topic or idea, e.g. "car
• blank verse creates conversational tonw
• caesura- frgament rhythem
• iambic pentameter- mirrors natural pattern of english
• link to exposure and kamikaze
• ‘Storm on the Island’, on a literal level, details an event perfectly summarised by the title. However, on a deeper, more figurative level, the storm is representative of the political storm that raged across Northern Ireland at the time.
• Stormont.’ Stormont is the name given to the government buildings in Northern Ireland in Belfast. This makes it clear that this poem also carries a political message.

  Imagery associated with terrorist violence can be found throughout several other sections of the poem, for example words such as ‘blast’, ‘exploding’, ‘fear’, and ‘bombarded
• The storm pummeling the island is a metaphor for the violence that was taking place in Northern Ireland.