Storm On The Island Flashcards
Quotes - p.1
“We are prepared”
“our houses squat”
“roof them with good slate.”
“wizened earth has never troubled us”
lots of negatives (e.g. “never”, “no”, and “nothing”)
“Nor are there trees / Which might prove company”
“Blast”
“you know what I mean”
Quotes - p.2.
“leaves and branches / Can raise a tragic chorus in a gale”
“you can listen to the thing you fear”
“it pummels your house”
“You might think that the sea is company”
“Exploding comfortably”
“But no”
“the flung spray hits / The very windows”
“spits like a tame cat / Turned savage”
“We just sit tight while wind dives”
military imagery : “strafes” “Space is a salvo” “bombarded by empty air”
“it is a huge nothing that we fear”
STRUCTURE
- Form; poem written in blank verse; mirrors patterns of everyday speech and makes it sound like part of a convo.
- Collective experience “We”
- All one stanza; compact and sturdy like the houses
- Structure “But no:”; Volta (seems to be a turning point); shifts from security to fear; slow pace of monosyllabic phrase + the caesura reflecting last moments of calm b4 storm
- Tone change; safety to fear
LANGUAGE
- Direct address; involves reader in his fear
- Violent imagery; similes, metaphors and personification; emphasise danger of storm
- Use of sounds; forceful sounds (e.g. “Blast”); demonstrate strength of nature
- Assonant “I” and sibilant sounds reflect noise of wind and waves
- End stop line 2; reinforces feeling of security; disappears w/ enjambmemt in the rest of the poem
- Lonely setting
- Plosive “Blast:”
Last minute terms
Caesura = a pause in a line of poetry
Enjambment = when a sentence or phrase runs over one line or stanza to the next
Blank verse = poetry written in iambic pentameter that doesn’t rhyme
Plosive = short burst of sound
Volta = turning point in a poem when the argument or tone changes dramatically
