Storm on the Island

Question 1

Who wrote Storm on the island?

Answer 1

Seamus Heaney

Question 2

What country did Heaney come from?

Answer 2

Northern Island

Question 3

What poetry cluster was Storm on the Island from?

Answer 3

Death of a naturalist

Question 4

When was Storm on the Island published?

Answer 4

1964

Question 5

What did Death of the Naturalist focus on?

Answer 5

The power of nature on the Aran islands

Question 6

What are the 2 different interpretations of the poem?

Answer 6

Power and Conflict

Question 7

“Spits like…”

Answer 7

“Spits like a tame cat turned savage.”

Question 8

What does the lack of stanza breaks and the lack of breathing breaks within the poem suggest?

Answer 8

The overwhelming situation the speaker finds them self in-it is a nonstop barrage as the speaker experiences the storm.

Question 9

What does the constant enjambment reflect?

Answer 9

The constant barrage of information reflecting the constant barrage of the storm.

Question 10

What does the everyday language “you know what I mean” contrast to? What does it suggest?

Answer 10

• The language of conflict and power

- Despite being oxymoron, it seems that these storms are everyday life to the speaker.

Question 11

What is the main Oxymoron phrase in the poem?

Answer 11

“Exploding comfortably”

Question 12

What does the oxymoron “exploding comfortably” suggest?

Answer 12

That the speaker has made sense of his conflicting way of life.

Question 13

How is the lack of control reflected by the rhyme?

Answer 13

There is a lack of rhyme reflecting the lack of control.

Question 14

What does the half rhyme in the poem suggest?

Answer 14

There is an attempt at control yet as hard as they work they cannot control the overwhelming climate. The wild storm refuses to be controlled.

Question 15

What is “We are prepared:we build our houses squat, Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate” an example of?

Answer 15

Half rhyme

Question 16

As there is half rhyme at the end of the poem and at the start of the poem suggest structurally?

Answer 16

That it is a cyclical structure

Question 17

What does the cyclical structure of the poem suggest?

Answer 17

That the narrator is trapped by the storm, emphasizing why the storm has become the norm to the narrator.

Question 18

What does the lack of other voices in the poem suggest?

Answer 18

That nature is indifferent to what it going on-it doesn’t care that it destroys the narrator’s home and fills him with fear.

Question 19

In the 60s when Heaney wrote the poem what was going on in Northern Ireland?

Answer 19

The terrorist group the IRA.

Question 20

What do the first 8 letters of the poem spell?

Answer 20

STORMONT

Question 21

What is Stormont?

Answer 21

The parliament buildings in Ireland.

Question 22

How could the IRA apply to the poem?

Answer 22

The lack of structural control reflect the trouble in Northern Ireland as a result of the IRA

Question 23

Why does Heaney use the pronoun “we”?

Answer 23

-It creates the sense of togetherness

Question 24

What do the warfare language “blast”, “exploding” suggest about the storm as a metaphor?

Answer 24

It suggests that the storm is a metaphor for the violent troubles occurring in Ireland.