The Great Storm - Jo Shapcott

Question 1

Themes? (3)

Answer 1

Natural disasters, loss, identity

Question 2

Tones? (2)

Answer 2

Melancholic, Flippant

Question 3

Context? (3)

Answer 3

• Based on a real event: the Great Storm of 1987
• In May 2003, she was diagnosed with breast cancer – could the chaos of the storm be a metaphor for this diagnosis?
• The flippant tone and nonchalant attitude towards death could have been her way of coping

Question 4

Meaning and purpose? (3)

Answer 4

• The speaker is giving us an observation they had during the storm – from behind a window.
• It explores the damaging outcome of a natural calamity that how it changes the existing worldview.
• It also highlights the
  negative impacts of this tragic situation on the speaker’s life.

Question 5

Language? (11)

Answer 5

• Metaphor of wanting to be “as horizontal as the tree tops” suggests that she wants the rush of the storm and to disappear into the storm. The storm metaphorically represents the speaker’s desires. She wants to feel the sense of danger and excitement the storm brings.
• The verb “cling” suggests that the speaker wants to feel like life is precious and worth holding
  onto. Is the storm a metaphor for how she has been repressing her desires in life and now seeks a reckless freedom?
• Gone, split, vamoosed’ is an interesting synonym triplet – the tone could be argued as being flippant or perhaps astounded.
• The storm as metaphor for the disruption and chaos in her life. ‘my
  beloveds peeling off the earth’ as a reflection on dealing with loss.
• Situational irony
• Plostive and consonant sounds to convey the power of the storm in Stanza 2 :”branch broke”
• the personification of the ‘world’ being able to ‘roar’ also adds a sense of collective pain – shared experience
• Simile: “small trees scattered like matchsticks”: The simile highlights the power of the wind, with how easily the storm can
  uproot trees and make them look like light, small sticks.
• The noun ‘folk’ is a softer and more informal choice of word, suggesting a kinship the voice feels for those that died.
• The collective pronoun ‘we’ suggests a shared experience. The pronoun ‘it’ is used, alluding to the noun ‘storm’ in the title. People do not normally ‘ride’ a storm – unless they are in a precarious situation – note ‘ride out a storm’ is an idiom often used
  to describe how we survive a storm by keeping in a safe place. Therefore, ‘we rode it all night’ suggests they were part of the
  storm, moving with it – but were they in control or was the storm?
• The one-line opening stanza is clearly important – the caesura also gives the words gravitas

Question 6

Form? (4)

Answer 6

• line 2: the structure of the line gives
  greater emphasis to the main clause:
  ‘folks died’
• In cars and ships and woods’ – the
  polysyndeton highlights how people
  suffered in different environments.
• enjambement, reflecting the movement of the storm. Increase of enjambment in the final stanza creates a sense of exhilaration.
• Volta between stanza 2 and 3. She
  connects her desires with the storm.

Question 7

Structure? (1)

Answer 7

• Written in free verse to convey the chaos created by powerful nature and a sense of passion