2.4.7 Storm on The Island

Question 1

Poet

Answer 1

Seamus Heaney

Question 2

Theme Code

Answer 2

BIVA

Question 3

Themes

Answer 3

Power of Nature, Negative Emotions of Fear, Vulnerability, Power of Humans

Question 4

Quotes

Answer 4

• ‘We are prepared’
• ‘Exploding comfortably’
• ‘Spits like a tame cat… turned savage’
• ‘Wind dives… and strafes invisibly’
• ‘Exploding’, ‘pummels’, ‘bombarded’, ‘blast’, ‘strafes’, ‘salvo’
• ‘Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear’

Question 5

Main Structural Points

Answer 5

• One Long Stanza
• Half-Rhyme
• Enjambment
• Cyclincal Structure

Question 6

Explain the quote ‘Exploding’, ‘pummels’, ‘bombarded’, ‘blast’, ‘strafes’, ‘salvo’

Answer 6

Metaphor
//

Question 7

Explain the quote ‘Spits like a tame cat… turned savage’

Answer 7

Simile and Enjambment
He uses the simile of “a tame cat / Turned savage” (line 15) to illustrate what the sea is really like. It is not gentle but spits angrily so that the spray hits the windows of the cliff-top house.
Enjambment: the surprise of finding the cat “Turned savage” at the beginning of the line enacts the shock of the cat’s sudden change in temperament.

Question 8

Quotes for the Main Structural Point

Answer 8

• ‘Nor are there trees… Which might prove company when it blows full’
• ‘Squat’ and ‘state’
• ‘Air’ and ‘fear’

Question 9

Simplified Main Structural Point

Answer 9

One stanza creates makes it overwhelming for the reader just like how the islanders felt. The constant barrage of information is like the constant barrage of a storm. Para-rhyme is used at the start and end as not only it does not deserve a perfect full rhyme, its placing gives it a cyclical structure suggesting nature attacks over and over.

Question 10

Main Structural Point

Answer 10

‘Storm on the Island’ is written as one long stanza, consisting of several long sentences highlighting the uncontrollable and overwhelming aspect of Nature’s power. This forces the reader to read the poem without being able to catch their breath, feeling overwhelmed by the lack of breaks, this helps the reader emphasise with the islanders who would also feel overwhelmed by the storm. The relentless structure reflects the relentless attack of the ‘Storm On The Island’. This is complemented by the use of enjambment, an example of this include ‘Nor are their trees. Which might prove company when it blows full’ Heaney’s use of enjambment and one long stanza creates this constant barrage of information reflecting the constant barrage of the storm exerting on the cottage. To add to that, the poem although being a blank verse features two accounts of half-rhyme seen in the first two lines of ‘squat’ and ‘state’ and the last two lines ‘air’ and ‘fear’. Heaney only used half-rhyme as it would be out of place that a perfect and controlled rhyming couplet is in a poem about chaos and uncontrollability. Then why use any rhyme at all? Well heaney purposely paced the only use of half-rhyme at the beginning and end to give the poem a cyclical structure, the storm is inescapable and it will occur again and again. This gives the reader a sense that the power of nature cannot be prevented, it will attack constantly one after the other, and its force results in the destruction and obliteration of property. The Power of Nature is overwhelming and destructive.