Storm On The Island

Question 1

Who wrote it?

Answer 1

Seamus Heaney

Question 2

When was it published?

Answer 2

1966

Question 3

Why was it written?

Answer 3

He lived through the worse of ‘the troubles’ in NI

A lot of his poetry looks at the countryside and his farming childhood

Question 4

What are the poet’s attitudes?

Answer 4

Safety - before the storm; are prepared
Fear - familiar things change and become frightening
Helplessness - the people can’t do anything about their fear except wait for the storm to finish

Question 5

Who is Heaney?

Answer 5

A Northern Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995
Died in 2013

Question 6

What’s the poem about?

Answer 6

IRA

Uneasy relationship we have with nature

Question 7

Recite your introduction sentence

Answer 7

Storm, published in 1966 and written by Seamus Heaney, is an extended metaphor for the IRA in Northern Ireland, but also looks at the uneasy relationship we have with nature by describing a storm.

Question 8

Recite your conclusion

Answer 8

Seamus Heaney was a Northern Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 and died in 2013. The poem was written because he lived through the worst of ‘the troubles’ facing Northern Ireland at the time, and he wanted to express the helplessness the people had against the IRA; a lot of his poetry also looks at the countryside and his farming childhood.