Storm on the island

Key Themes:

• Natural power
• Fear and Isolation
• Mans relationship with nature

Key Techniques:

• Blank verse - No rhyme
• Enjambment - Lines run on
• Caesura
• Assonance - Repetition of a vowel sound
• Oxymoron - Contradiction
• Metaphor and Simile

Lines 1-5

• Line one there is an example of caesura - after the 'we are prepared' it is the semicolon that causes the break.
• We is an important word as it is repeated twice in the first line as it is addressing the audience it is also setting the tone as they are all in it together. Sense of community.
• They build there houses 'squat' and walls of 'rock' so that the islanders are prepared for the storm
• Line two there is Assonance this is repeating the vowel sound "roof" and "Stoof"
• Heaney uses the word 'wizened' to show the earth is old and feeble where nothing is growing and also to show that it is experienced.
• Nothing grows on the island - 'no stacks or snooks that can be lost'
• At the end of lines 1 and 2 there are end breaks - they are commas and full stops.
• The rest of the stanza uses enjambment.
• The poet puts pauses deliberately in the first two lines and enjambment in the rest as the first two lines are like preparation and the rest of the poem is the effect of the storm.
• No stanzas in the poem as it all flows as a storm.

Lines 6 - 10

• There is enjambment when the poet says 'full blast' this comes suddenly like a storm; the waves hitting a rock, lightning hitting the land.
• Line 7 - The poet uses conversational turn when he says 'you know what i mean' as it addresses the reader and draws you in, also he feels more isolated as there is no trees, no noise, and wants a bit of reassurance which is why he asks the reader if 'you know what i mean'
• Line 8 - He uses the word chorus as it keeps repeating itself, and keeps coming back.
• Line 9 - 10 - The wind are personified as it 'pummels' the house. It is personified in a very violent way. 'Pummel' is used in a violent way as in a fight.

Lines 11-19

• Line 11 - 'no' is repeated to emphasise that there isn't anything there.
• Line 13 - There is an oxymoron as the sea is 'exploding comfortably' which shows that it is exploding but he is finding solace in it and company as he is alone.
• Line 14 - there is another break where the poem says 'But no' to break the poem where the storm turns from being reassuring company to violent.
• Line 15 - 'spits' is onomatopoeia
• Lines 15 - 16 - 'spits like a tame cat gone saveage' shows that the storm was nice then it turned violent