Storm on the Island Flashcards
SOTI - Context (5)
- Seamus Heaney lived from 1939 - 2013 and was raised in Northern Ireland within a Catholic household. He often wrote about his personal and local experiences of his youth such as picking blackberries or watching his father gardening.
- He is one of the most acclaimed Irish poets, second only to W.B.Yeats.
- The poem doesn’t explicitly have any specific geographic or historical context perhaps to imbue it with a universality suggesting it could happen anywhere at any time.
- It was a poem in a collection called “Death of a Naturalist” looking at the Aran Islands and the power nature has over them. Within Irish poetry, these islands are a symbol of Irish culture. This collection dismantled the romanticisation of natural beauty to instead explore the potential violence of nature.
- It is also a conceit for the tumultuous political situation in Northern Island i.e. the Troubles which was a “low-level war”. There were also divisions and conflicts between Catholics and protestants in Ireland.
“leaves and branches can raise a tragic chorus in a gale”
The personifying metaphor “leaves and branches can raise a tragic chorus in a gale” hints at nature consciously tormenting man. Personification is used to imbue nature with enough power to compete with a man. Moreover, in a Greek tragedy, a “chorus” would give commentary on and explain events- the absence of trees in this case depicts the isolation of the islanders who are left alone to fight and interpret the storm.
“spits like a tame cat turned savage”
- Throughout the poem, this personification shifts to zoomorphism with the image “spits like a tame cat turned savage”.
- This could highlight how nature could be deceptive with its apparent beauty or innocence but it in fact has the capacity for violence and brutality. The personification of “tame” and “savage” is used to portray the mercurial nature of the storm.
- Moreover, the alliterative “t” sound mimics the sound of water hitting the islander’s homes, the poet plays on the readers senses to immerse them within the storm and convey how overwhelming it can be.
“company”
There is a sense that he feels betrayed by nature, there is repetition of the noun “company” to establish the myth that nature is mankind’s friend. Through his description he then confutes his suggestion to show that the typically celebrated beauty of nature can be misleading.
“Stormont”
The title itself is an allusion to “Stormont”, the government building of Northern Ireland. This is a suggestion that laced beneath the natural imagery of the poem there are political undertones.
“pummels” “exploded” “salvo” “bombarded”
There is a semantic field of a battle created through “pummels”, “exploded”, “salvo” and “bombarded”. A lexis relating to military violence could indicate that it is more political than we might initially expect. Heaney could be writing about the fear that overwhelms a community when violence is on the horizon, like an incoming storm.
SOTI - Form (Metaphor)
The single 19-line stanza of the poem is a metaphor for the way the islanders huddle together in preparation for the storm, similarly they build their “houses squat” to maximise their protection against the elements.
SOTI - Blank verse
It is written in black verse to make the poem sound conversational (this is mirrored by the colloquialisms) - this presents the experience of a storm as casual and regular; the people are so accustomed to the feeling of fear it has become an everyday occurrence.
SOTI - Lack of stanzas
The lack of stanzas denies the reader any respite or pause to uphold the same level of tension throughout the whole poem.
SOTI - No rhyme
The poem generally doesn’t rhyme; however, the first and final couplet has a slant rhyme of “squat/slate” and “air/fear” which is unsettling. It denies the reader the satisfaction of a full rhyme which suspends them within the same aspic (aspic is a jelly which holds items in, here it has been used as a higher level way of saying they are stuck in something) of waiting that the islanders operate in whilst expecting a storm. There is an overarching sense of apprehension.
SOTI - Cyclical Structure
The first and final couplet has a slant rhyme of “squat/slate” and “air/fear”. It gives the poem a cyclical structure to portray the storm as unescapable and repetitive - they are stuck in a perpetual cycle of preparation, waiting and recovery.
SOTI - Volta
There is a volta in line 14 as the tone shifts from optimistic confidence and preparation to a defeat against the aggressive brutality of the storm.
SOTI - Enjambment
The enjambment allows the lines to physically overflow which portrays the constant barrage of the storm as the poem too bombards the reader with information.
SOTI: Brief summary
Heaney is concerned with the conflict between man and nature; his poem is about a group of people living on an island preparing for a storm. The community initially thought they were well prepared for the barrage of a storm however this confidence dissipates as the storm escalates and is replaced by fear.
