Storm On The Island

Question 1

Structure

Answer 1

First part lines
- many words about safety and security
“We are prepared”

Rest

• Turning point is “but no”
• security turns to fear
• Monosyllabic phrase and the caesura shows the calm before the storm

Question 2

Paradoxical language

Answer 2

“Exploding comfortably”
- he talks about the ocean which is an oxymoron showing how something so calm can also be violent

The silence frightens them and if they could hear the wind coming it would comfort them
Wind is the “company” but there is no wind.

Nature is the enemy 
"Strafes"
"Bombarded"
-usually used for fighter planes but shows how the air attacks them. 
-militarising the air

Question 3

Form

Answer 3

Blank verse

• sounds as if in conversation
• adds serious feeling

First person plural
- it affects everyone

Question 4

Safety

Answer 4

The first part of the poem shows how the community feels safe and prepared

Question 5

Fear

Answer 5

The sense of security changes to fear and it is the fear of the power of nature as familiar things change and become frightening

Question 6

Helplessness

Answer 6

The people can’t do anything. They have to wait until the storm is finished.

Question 7

Context

Answer 7

Heaney was a contemporary Irish poet. The poems name also can be seen as STORMONT which is the parliamentary buildings in northern island.

The storms could be the violent political disturbance between Catholics and Protestants as the republicans wanted independence from Britain.