Storm on the island

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  • Created by: Basital
  • Created on: 01-03-17 18:16
We are prepared:
plural pronoun 'we' - suggest community, storm universal application, for storm or metaphorical for wartime bombing. Short and simple - confidence.
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wizened earth
1. land is knowledgeable. 2.dried up and old. affects of a harsh life. symbolic: of location troubled by conflict
2 of 14
never troubled us with hay
narrator and the people he is with are stoical, able to resist conflict or the elements. the advantage of the barrenness of the land -there is nothing to destroy
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Nor are there trees Which might prove company when it blows full Blast:
smooth enjambment, develops the imagery in the next stanza. The idea that the trees, had they existed, become one with the storm is an imaginative one. Tress perceived as friendly also vulnerable to ravages of nature
4 of 14
tragic chorus
trees personified to warn community links to the chorus in Greagedies, who would narrate and comment on the devastating plot like Heaney.
5 of 14
listen to the thing you fear Forgetting that it pummels your house too.
The elements are horrifying. personification - makes it to be the enemy. metaphor for war or conflict. The community seems to be ready for an onslaught.
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But there are no trees
dismisses the idea that there is a comfort or company on the island, and reaffirms that the islanders must have man-made shelters in order to survive.
7 of 14
Exploding comfortably
Oxymoron. showing how even violent waves crashing against cliffs — like an explosion are ‘comfortable’ in this time of need. ironically almost to mock the idea that the sea could be company. nature 1. friend 2. enemy
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But no:
caesura: interrupts the flow, to show how dangerous the times are. The punctuation, a colon, as well as the sound, makes the reader pause, a caesura, to emphasise the change in meaning.
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The very windows, spits like a tame cat Turned savage.
simile. The ‘tamed cat’ turns ‘savage’, suggesting that the familiar sea is suddenly turned threatening and dangerous. This mood-change is reinforced by the sudden spitting, plosive ’t’s.
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We just sit tight while wind dives And strafes invisibly.
personification: wind = powerful, military dives like planes? “strafing” — gunfire from the air — threatens.
11 of 14
Space is a salvo,
A salvo is a rapid fire of artillery or shots. even the empty air is threatening. epetition of the sibilant letter ’s' to imitate the sound of hissing artillery — and maybe also imitate lightning during the storm.
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bombarded with the empty air.
“Bombarded” is a dynamic verb, conjuring images of violent sieges or attacks. Being hit by “empty air” is a metaphor, suggesting that the conflict has no foundation, a struggle based on nothing. word “air” reinforces the theme of nothingness.
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Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.
ambiguous conclusion. Maybe the islanders are safe and warm whilst the storm/violence goes on below them. Maybe the ‘huge nothing’ is the unfathomable, groundless and unnecessary hostility between communities.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

wizened earth

Back

1. land is knowledgeable. 2.dried up and old. affects of a harsh life. symbolic: of location troubled by conflict

Card 3

Front

never troubled us with hay

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Nor are there trees Which might prove company when it blows full Blast:

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

tragic chorus

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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