Storm on the island. Flashcards
Who wrote the poem?
Seamus Heaney.
What technique is used here “We are prepared: we build our houses squat”
Caesura.
What does the line “We are prepared: we build our houses squat” imply about the island?
Storms happen often so they build low houses.
“This wizened earth has never troubled us”. What does “wizened” mean?
Old, shrivelled and experienced.
The wind “spits like a tame cat turned savage”. What technique has the writer used?
A simile.
“Space is a salvo”. What does “salvo” mean?
Rapid firing of artillery.
What is the theme explored in this poem?
The power of nature
Fear and Isolation.
What other poem in the cluster looks at the power of nature?
Exposure and The Prelude.
What is a lot of Seamus’ poetry about?
The countryside and farm life of his childhood.
What conflict is the poem about?
The violence in Northern Ireland.
The poem is written in unrhymed lines each containing five beats or feet. Otherwise known as
Blank verse.
Exploding comfortably down on the cliff.
Oxymoron.
-exploding-violent term contrasting
with comfortably.
suggesting that because the
violence is far off you feel more secure.
Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.
Oxymoron the poet suggests that our fear is a
paradox, there is nothing to fear or that we fear the nothingness of the invisible wind.
