Storm on the Island

Question 1

summary

Answer 1

spekaer expalis hwo the communtiy’s hosues are well equiped to last thorugh storms ,s trong amterial and lwo to ground .

• land is not thr type to gorw hy or trees which can be difficult in windy conditions so wide open .
• description of seas behviour in stem , the clliffs dont portect the people and spray can still reach them .
• speaker then compares the wind and bery ait to gunfire and concldues air itself tht frightens poeple in a storm ‘huge nothing’.

Question 2

key aspects of poem

Answer 2

-Heaney uses plural ‘we’ to create a viewpoint that ts whoe comyntuy .
-severeal exmaples of personfication , similes nad metaphort to imply intention on prt of nture
Heaney creates a convesrional tone using direct adress and coloquil language .
-semantic field relating to attack increases ins trength thoughout the poem
-violent imagery also hints ireland’s troubled past .

Question 3

key setting - exposed cttages on irelands coasts

Answer 3

Heaney conjures up the settingof the ‘squat’ hosues fror the reader witha wel of desciription nd imagery . -He prsonifies and ascirbe intneions to he landscape and wether thorughout poem . begins with ‘the izened earth has ever troubles us ‘ the adjective wizened sugests old agae nad isuauly applied to old people .
whils the verb ‘trobuled’ imples th the lack of corps is a blessing in disguise to people as it woud have been lost in the storm anywa s.

• sense of landcapre increses as potnential ‘company’ contineus with simeple ‘spits like a tame cat /turned sabage’ captriomg sea spary hitting cottage iwnods but its a dangerousact s a savage cat carries connotations of unpredictbly .
• heaney also createes a miliaristic semantic field ‘bormaded and ‘pummel’ highighting the danger and chaos on the coast .

Question 4

key technique tone

Answer 4

poem wirtten in presene tense and blank ebrse so apporchale convesation tone Colloquial phrases lie ‘as ou see’ creaes irnic tone and heaneyhas done this so there feel as a speaker is hinking aoud and seems tha tje speaker is suppriesed nu event or jsut cocure d.

Question 5

imaegyr

Answer 5

henaey begins a parttern by presneting a natural elemnt as possile ‘company’ but thenshows how it turns agaisnt ht epoeple and it ecalted to a ‘tragic chorus’ thorugh the sea’s behaviour and turned savage almost like betryaal .

Question 6

imaegyr

Answer 6

‘spits liek ame ca’ evokes he sens of somehing trusted becoe unpredictably violent betryal ,

Question 7

structure

Answer 7

one long stnaza like preuldue wih not any spaces for breah as well as enjammbet overwhelimnign to read in one grow , the barriae of informtion relfects constna barrioge ofstorm on thhe hosues .
-lack of controll of ryhyme cheme only half rhyme at the beginning and a half rhyme at then end of the poe m gives the poem a cyclicl struccutre suggetsing storm is INESCAPABLE .

Question 8

langauge

Answer 8

te use of coloquial langauge ‘you know wha i mean; juxtaposes he choas , ‘exploding comfotable’ oxymornic , suggesitng tha this is posisbly everyday events in narraotr slife its ormal for him .

Question 9

Compare poem to wha ?

Answer 9

to prelde asboth explroign overhwelming power of nature before hubristic attidue ‘we are prepared’
both using first perosnal voice perosnal and noth one long stanza .