Storm on the Island

Question 1

About ?

Answer 1

• The narrator describes how people in an unknown community are prepped for an upcoming storm.
• When the storm arrives it is much more violent than anticipated and people sit tight waiting for it to pass.
• The narrator admits that they are afraid of something but that something is invisible.

Question 2

Form and Structure

Answer 2

• the poem is just one piece with 19 lines. This is just like the squat houses described at the start. It is also written in iambic pentameter.
• The poem can be split into 2 halves. The first half describes the safe and stable houses of the communities . Bit then the tone changes to one of fear and anxiety.
• There is the use of enjambment and caesura. This helps create an uneven rhythm, reflecting the storm.

Question 3

Key Quotes

Answer 3

• We are prepared;we build our houses squat
• This wizened earth has never troubled us
• Nor are there trees /Which might prove company when it blows full / Blast
• Leaves and branches can raise a tragic chorus
• There are no trees, no natural shelter
• The flung spray hits / The very windows
• Spits like a tame cat / Turned savage
• Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear

Question 4

Language and Themes

Answer 4

• The word that are used to describe the uncluttered, simplistic life of the islanders.
• Military imagery allows Heaney to portray natures persistent onslaught.

Question 5

What poems can you compare with the power of nature,fear and individual experience ?

Answer 5

• Bayonet Charge
• The prelude
• London
• The Emigree