Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney Flashcards
The poem in a nutshell….
The poem describes the extreme force of nature and the impact that the elements have on island life.
The island’s occupants adapt to the demands nature places on their homes and jobs.
Beginning of poem suggests readiness for storm but as it goes on we see more violent language describing weather and war-like imagery.
Context
Heaney’s father was a farmer in rural County Derry and much of Heaney’s poetry is about the countryside
and farm life of his childhood.
Storm on the Island could be a metaphor for the political storm that raged across Northern Ireland in the
second half of the twentieth century. The storm pummelling the island in the poem could represent the
violence in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
The sea is described as ‘exploding comfortably’
Striking and unusual description for reader as it seems
contradictory. Suggests this is something that it has done before and will do again. Appeals to senses as this is something we can visualise and imagine the sound of.
“the flung spray hits/The very windows, spits like a
tame cat/ Turned savage”
Sea is uncontrollable, unpredictable. Wild like a cat.
“We are bombarded by the empty air”
Attacked by a threat that cannot be seen. Reinforces
unpredictability of attacks and powerlessness to defend
against the elements.
Aspects of Power or Conflict
Power of nature. Powerlessness of humans.
Conflict in Ireland? Human desires to control and monitor vs. Nature’s destructive force.
Poems that can be linked
Checking out me History – powerlessness in cultural sense.
London – powerlessness of one vs something bigger
