PMc Storm on the Island

8/7/2019 PMc Storm on the Island

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pmc-storm-on-the-island 1/15

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Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney





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Storm on the Island

� Key Themes

� Natur al power

� Fear and isolation� Man¶s r elationshipwith natur e

� Key ter ms:

� Blank ver se

� End-stopping

� Enjambment

� Caesur a

� Assonance

� Oxymoron� Metaphor/simile

� 1st/2nd/3r d per son



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We are prepared: we build our houses squat,

Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.

The wizened earth has never troubled us

With hay, so as you can see, there are no stacks

Or stooks that can be lost. Nor are there trees

Which might prove company when it blows full

Blast: you know what i mean - leaves and branches

Can raise a tragic chorus in a gale

So that you can listen to the thing you fear

Forgetting that it pummels your house too.

But there are no trees, no natural shelter.

You might think that the sea is company,

Exploding comfortably down on the cliffs

But no: when it begins, the flung spray hits

The very windows, spits like a tame catTurned savage. We just sit tight while wind dives

And strafes invisibly. Space is a salvo.

We are bombarded by the empty air.

Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.

Storm on the Island: Content/meaning

Old andshr ivelled.

Also

exper ienced.

Cor n sheavesbundled up

Rapid,

simultaneous

fir ing of

artiller y

What is the

poet

descr ibing.

How does he

feel about it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_ liter atur

e/poetr y_ slideshow/stor m/photoplayer .shtml

5

10

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Pr esent tense. What effect does this have on the r eader ?



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Storm on the Island: Str uctur e and For m




With hay, so as you can see, there are no stacksOr stooks that can be lost. Nor are there trees5

No rhyming patter n,this is called ______

ver se

Iambic metr e which mirror s the speech

patter ns of English and makes the

poem feel like a conver sation

Why is ther e no article (µthe¶ or µa¶)?What does that suggest about the

stor m?

Also, the fir st 8 letter s spellStor mont, the seat of Ir ish

r ule. Could the stor m have a

secondar y meaning r elated

to the troubles in Ir eland?

Line 2: what wor ds does the

metr e str ess. What effect do they

have?



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Storm on the Island: Language



The wizened earth has never troubled usWith hay, so as you can see, there are no stacks

Or stooks that can be lost. Nor are there trees5

Simple, comf orting statement of

str ength. Sets the tone as secur eand safe.

µWe¶ together ness, community

µsquat¶ low down, immediate

suggestion of the str ength of thewind

µroof¶ µgood¶

these wor ds

haveassonance.

Emphasising

the connection

between the

people and

natur eThe earth is like an old f r iend,

saving them the bother of

har vesting and the pain of lost

crops

Alliter ation str esses the solidar ity,

str ength of together ness



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With hay, so as you can see, there are no stacksOr stooks that can be lost. Nor are there trees

Which might prove company when it blows full

Blast: you know what i mean - leaves and branches

Caesur a f or ces the r eader

to pause in the comf ort of this statement

End-stopping f or ces ther eader to dwell on the

feeling of safety/solidity

Safe and comf ortable

tone is disr upted and thepoem becomes mor e

fear ful. Caesur a used to

µbr eak¶ the rhythm

throughout the r est of the

poem.

Enjambment: the blast

comes at the start of the

line, possibly suggesting a

shar p, unexpected gust of

wind.

5



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Blast: you know what i mean - leaves and branchesCan raise a tragic chorus in a gale

So that you can listen to the thing you fear

Forgetting that it pummels your house too.

Conver sational style (ther e ar e other examples). Dr aws the r eader in. Does it

emphasise the poet¶s isolation?

Chor us is

sustained and

incessant.

µpummels¶ violent, painful imageand per sonifies the wind

End of the line but

not end-stopped,

the fear hasn¶t

taken hold yet





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The very windows, spits like a tame cat

Turned savage. We just sit tight while wind dives




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Caesur a: The

pause makes

the r eader consider the

absence of

safety and

comf ort

Violent language r uns throughout the final 6lines emphasising the danger and fear . Militar y

language (³salvo´, ³str afe´, ³bombar dment´)

per sonifies the weather as attacking them.



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Caesur a: f or ces the

r eader to dwell on the

savage natur e of the

weather

Simile: µlike a tame

cat¶ a pet, f r iend,something the poet is

comf ortable with

Enjambment:

suggests sur pr ise at

the sudden change in

the µcat¶/sea

Ther e¶s nothing they

can do. Natur e has all

of the power



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³fear .´ is a r epetition

of the end of line 9only this time it is end-

stopped. Fear has

taken hold and the

r eader is lef t to

consider this at the

end

Their fear is not of

anything they can seeor fight. Emphasises

their power lessness.

³nothing´, could also suggest a fear of

losing ever ything; having it destroyed

by the stor m



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Storm on the Island: Str uctur e and For m

³like a tame cat/ Tur ned savage´ this line mirror s the whole poem.

Starts safe, comf ortable, known f r ightening, violent.

Use this to compar e the fir st and last lines

Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear

We are prepared: we build our houses squat

like a tame cat/ Turned savage



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Compar isons

� P atroling Barnegat

� Both ar e fir st per son descr iptions of stor ms, and both use alliter ation and assonance

� But while Heaney is indoor s, protected against thestor m, Whitman is outside in the midst of it.

� Inversnaid

� Both poems use alliter ation and assonance to enhance

their detailed descr iption of the natur al wor ld� But in Hopkins' poem the wind is benign - 'A windpuff

bonnet of fawn-f roth' - not thr eatening like Heaney'swind.



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Summar y

� What poems could

you compar e this

with?

� GC: Oc tober, TheField mouse

� Pr e1914: P atrolling

Barnegat, The Eagle,

Sonnet ( Clar e),

Inversnaid

� Key Themes

� Natur al power

� Fear and isolation

� Man¶s r elationshipwith natur e

� What c ould you add to this list?

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PMc Storm on the Island

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