Storm on the Island- Seamus Heaney
- Created by: lucyaa
- Created on: 13-04-17 17:25
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- Storm on the Island-Seamus Heaney
- Power and Conflict
- suggests a community preparing to endure a wartime bombing
- "we are prepared: we built our houses squat"
- humans are in conflict with nature but are helpless
- suggests a community preparing to endure a wartime bombing
- Fear of nature
- he realises he is powerless in the storm -like being under enemy fire
- "we just sit tight while wind dives /And strafes invisibly"
- anticipation shown by silence before the wind
- "you can listen to the thing you fear"
- "it is a huge nothing we fear"
- questions whether the fear is real, and what he is actually afraid of
- "Nor are there trees/Which might prove company"
- nature is fighting itself leaving him isolated.
- he realises he is powerless in the storm -like being under enemy fire
- Background
- his father was a cattle dealer + farmed 50 acres
- it describes being in a cliff-top cottage on an island off the coast of Ireland during a storm
- Vocabulary
- wizened
- dried up, shrivelled
- stacks/stocks
- haystacks/shocks of corn sheaves
- strafes
- bombards, harasses with artillery shell
- salvo
- simultaneous firing of artillery
- wizened
- structure
- nine-teen lines of black verse
- unrhyming lines each containing 5 beats
- verse form follows natural patterns of spoken english
- makes the reader feel like Heaney is talking to them
- nine-teen lines of black verse
- Language
- title is blunt and unspecific
- he isn't talking about 1 storm, but many similar storms showing he's used to it
- written in the present tense creating a sense of drama and shows storms are frequent
- speaks in a friendly tone to involve the reader to stop isolation
- "you know what I mean"
- "the thing you fear"
- "you might think"
- warlike language
- "bombarded by the empty air"
- paradoxical- empty air cannot bombard
- "space is salvo"
- dangerous to go outside
- "strafes invisibly"
- "bombarded by the empty air"
- title is blunt and unspecific
- Techniques
- enjambment
- "When it blows full/Blast"
- gust of wind suddenly blasts at the start of the line
- "a tame cat/Turned savage"
- shows the shock of the cat's sudden change in behaviour
- simile that turns a familiar pet into the enemy
- "When it blows full/Blast"
- personification
- "wizened"
- giving wisdom to land and shows age
- "the sea is company, exploding comfortably"
- sea becomes cruel when there are storms
- "wizened"
- sound
- alliteration
- "rock and roof" enforces strength of the house
- noise of the wind could be like an orchestra
- "tragic chorus in gale"
- s + f sounds in dives and strafes mimics the wind
- alliteration
- repetition
- "Nor are there trees"- "no trees, no natural shelter"
- emphasises his vulnerability
- "Nor are there trees"- "no trees, no natural shelter"
- caesura
- full stops symbolise waiting- builds anticipation
- enjambment
- Power and Conflict
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