Context – Storm on the Island was originally published in Seamus Heaney’s 1996 Death of Naturalist collection.

Line-by-Line Analysis
Seamus Heaney – Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) The Troubles – The Troubles is the name given STANZA LINE POEM ANALYSIS
was a Northern Irish poet and playwright, who to the conflict in Northern Ireland during the Lines 1-4 – The speaker describes how the
received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is late 20th Century. Over 3,600 people were community prepares for the storm. The collective
recognised as one of the major poets of the 20th killed and thousands more were injured. Two personal pronoun ‘we’ to start the poem shows the
1 We are prepared: we build our houses squat, strength of the community. The way the houses are
Century. His poems were usually written in a traditional style separate factions fought over the constitutional status of the
built suggests storms are regular, and that they
about passing ways of life. His poetry is accessible, using a country, with the goal of the unionist side to remain part of survive them through their collective strength –
simple diction and a range of poetic devices to build imagery. the UK, and the nationalist side to become part of Ireland. As 2 Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.
hard ‘k’ and ‘t’ sounds reflect this. The word wizened
Heaney often used his poetry to reflect upon ‘The Troubles’, a result, the violence also spilled into Great Britain and shows that the land is dried up/ shrivelled, but what
which plagued the country throughout his early adulthood. Ireland. It was settled in the Good Friday agreement of 1998. 3 The wizened earth had never troubled us is ironic about the lack of vegetation that the
Ireland – Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic, Irish Islands – There are several hundred islands barren land offers is that there is little that would
separated from Great Britain by the North Channel, off the coast of Ireland, many of which harbour take flight and become a danger in a strong storm.
4 With hay, so as you can see, there are no stacks Lines 5-8 – The poem begins to shift in tone,
the Irish Sea, and St. George’s Channel. The island is extremely small populations; on a number of
towards one of fear and danger. The speaker
made up of the Republic of Ireland (often these islands, the population is below 100 people. suggests that the trees may prove ‘company’ in a
shortened to ‘Ireland’), which makes up about five-sixths of Often isolated tens of kilometres off the Irish mainland, these 5 Or stooks that can be lost. Nor are there trees strong storm, as if aspects of nature comforting –
the island, and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the UK. places are often fully exposed to the elements of the Atlantic this emphasises the loneliness of the land. Blast
The Irish climate is heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, Ocean. Some islands report long periods of time in enforced isolated by the enjambment and caesura,
6 Which might prove company when it blows full
which borders it to the east. Ireland is the second-most solitude from storms. It is important for these people to live in enhancing its strength. The sound of word is
populous island in Europe, with about 6.6 million inhabitants. tight-knit communities, looking out for one another. onomatopoeic, and makes the reader consider a
7 Blast: you know what I mean - leaves and branches bomb. The personal pronoun ‘you’ encourages the
reader to reflect on their own experiences of violent
storms. The ‘tragic chorus’ narrate the events in a
Language/Structural Devices 8 Can raise a tragic chorus in a gale Greek tragedy, in which a catastrophic ending is
inevitable – security is eclipsed by sounds of fear.
Extended Metaphor – Storm on the Island, on a literal Personification/Similes – In order to demonstrate the 9 So that you can listen to the thing you fear
Lines 9-13 – The tone has now clearly shifted from
level, details an event perfectly summarised by the title. sheer power of nature throughout the poem, Heaney chooses one of safety to one of danger as the intensity and
However, on a deeper, more figurative level, the storm is to personify several aspects of storm. For example, the violence of the storm is described. The word
‘pummels’ means to strike repeatedly with the fist –
representative of the political storm that raged across speaker shares that the storm ‘pummels’ the houses – 10 Forgetting that it pummels your house too.
Northern Ireland at the time. The storm pummeling the presenting the storm as some kind of fighter or bully. Later on 1 the storm is therefore being personified into an
aggressive and persistent fighter that bullies the
island is a metaphor for the violence that was taking place in in the poem, the sea is personified as it is presented that it 11 But there are no trees, no natural shelter. islanders. ‘No trees’ is repeated, to emphasise the
Northern Ireland. ‘spits like a tame cat turned savage’ – also using a simile to feeling of isolation. ‘No natural shelter’ suggests that
This is evident even in the title (island is a homophone of demonstrate that all of nature appears to be against them. nature is entirely against them. An oxymoron is used
Ireland). Furthermore, the first 8 letters of the poem’s title Quote: “So that you can listen to the thing you fear 12 You might think that the sea is company, to show the nature of the sea – it is ‘comfortable’
spell out the word ‘Stormont.’ Stormont is the name given to with its violence (exploding) – once again, there are
Forgetting that it pummels your house too.” connotations here of bombs detonating.
the government buildings in Northern Ireland in Belfast. This 13 Exploding comfortably down on the cliffs
makes it clear that this poem also carries a political message. Interesting Vocabulary – Heaney uses a wide variety of Lines 14-16 – From this point onwards, the fear of
Imagery associated with terrorist violence can be found interesting vocabulary choices to show the power and effect the islanders is conveyed through the increasing
throughout several other sections of the poem, for example of the storm. Many of these words have meanings within the 14 But no: when it begins, the flung spray hits imagery of war. Caesuras (e.g. after ‘But no’)
words such as ‘blast’, ‘exploding’, ‘fear’, and ‘bombarded’ not semantic field of warfare, for example: strafes, salvo, prolong the storm. Even domesticated nature now
bombarded, exploding, shelter, and company. All of this seems to be against the islanders, as in the simile
only represent the manner in which the storm attacks the 15 The very windows, spits like a tame cat used to compare the sea and the tame cat ‘turned
island, but also the horror that was ensuing in Northern combines to create vivid sight and sound imagery that is savage.’ The cat, much like the weather, turns from
Ireland through the terrorists’ violence. befitting both the scene of the storm and a warzone. tame to savage. Furthermore, the water is
Quote: “Blast: you know what I mean - leaves and branches Quote: “Turned savage. We just sit tight while wind dives 16 Turned savage. We just sit tight while wind dives personified through the imagery of the water
Can raise a chorus in a gale” And strafes invisibly. Space is a salvo.” ‘spitting.’ The villagers must simply let it pass.
Structure – The poem is written in one solid block of 19 Enjambment and Caesura – Heaney employs 17 And strafes invisibly. Space is a salvo. Lines 17-19 – The final lines continue to employ
unrhymed lines, ending with a half-rhyming couplet. Each enjambment and caesura to break up and fragment the images of war. ‘Strafes’ means to attack with
line of the blank verse contains ten or eleven syllables, poem in some places, and to build it to a crescendo in others. gunfire, once again showing how the storm mirrors
18 We are bombarded by the empty air. the violent conflict. The use of the adverb ‘invisibly’
following the natural pattern of English so that the reader This creates an uneven rhythm, rather like the storm itself. suggests that the attack is by stealth – the wind
feels as though Heaney is talking to them. The form itself The enjambment picks up the rhythm, which them hits an cannot be seen and this in some ways makes it
mirrors the houses, squat and solid, bearing the brunt of the abrupt stop at each moment of caesura – granting power to 19 Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear. worse. The interesting verb ‘bombarded’ shows the
storm. It also presents the storm as one single event. hard monosyllabic words such as ‘blast’ and ‘lost.’ people are trapped and feel attacked from all
Quote: “We are bombarded by the empty air. angles. ‘Empty air’ is a play on words, meaning a
Quote: “Which might prove company when it blows full
mere threat, but this is more than that. The last line
Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.” Blast: you know what I mean - leaves and branches” shows that the people do not know what to expect.

Themes – A theme is an idea or message that runs throughout a text. Poems for Comparison Words from the Poet
Nature – As the islanders have become acutely aware, humanity is easily overpowered by the forces of nature - Storm on the Island can be compared and All of us, Protestant poets, Catholic poets - and don't those terms fairly put the wind up you? -
all of us probably had some notion that a good poem was "a paradigm of good politics", a site
The natural world can make man feel extremely small and insignificant. Despite being relentlessly ‘pummelled’ and Exposure contrasted with this poem through its of energy and tension and possibility, a truth-telling arena but not a killing field. And without
‘bombarded’ by the storm, the islanders just have to ‘sit it out’, knowing that they are no match for the storm. presentation of the weather and nature. being explicit about it, either to ourselves or to one another, we probably felt that if we as
poets couldn't do something transformative or creative with all that we were a part of, then it
Fear/Isolation – The people on the island are out of touch with anyone beyond the island (and in fact beyond Storm on the Island can be compared and was a poor lookout for everybody. In the end, I believe what was envisaged and almost set up
The Prelude by the Good Friday Agreement was prefigured in what I called our subtleties and tolerances -
their own house) during the storm. Their isolation is demonstrated through the lack of trees, which the speaker contrasted with these poems through its
(extract) allowances for different traditions and affiliations, in culture, religion and politics. It all seems
suggests could offer some company, and the now ‘savage’ nature of the ocean. This is bare, barren, and lonely. presentation of fear and isolation simple enough. Seamus Heaney Interview with Dennis O’Driscoll, The Guardian, 2008.