Storm on the Island (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Each poetry anthology in the GCSE contains 15 poems, and in the poetry question in the exam you will be given one poem on the paper - printed in full - and asked to compare this given poem to one other from the anthology. You will not have access to the other poems in the exam, so you will have to know them very well from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to learn. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-mark response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages the poet wanted to convey
• How the poet conveys these ideas and messages through their methods
• How do these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas and themes of other poems in the anthology

Below is a guide to Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney, from the Power and Conflict anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is essential that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell
• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Heaney's intention and message

Storm on the Island in a nutshell

Storm on the Island was written by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and it was published in 1966. It describes a desolate island landscape lived on by a group of resourceful individuals who must protect themselves from a storm. It can also be interpreted as an allegory for political tensions in Northern Ireland, commonly referred to as "The Troubles", where the islanders can be understood to represent the Irish people and the storm represents oppressive British rule, and the brutality of war and conflict in general. The main themes of this poem are therefore based on both its literal meaning in the power of nature, and in its allegorical meaning of physical and political conflict.

Storm on the Island breakdown

Lines 1-5

“We are prepared: we build our houses squat,

Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.

This wizened earth has never troubled us

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

Or stooks that can be lost. - ”

Translation

• The poem begins with the declaration that the inhabitants are ready for the storm
• Their homes are short and wide, built for withstanding strong weather
• The land does not provide them with many crops, but there is no hay that might blow away

Heaney's intention

• The poet starts by using the inclusive pronoun “we”, indicating that this poem is about community and togetherness
• The caesura in the first line suggests they are prepared to stop the coming storm
• The use of alliteration, such as “rock and roof”, reinforces how solid the structures are
• The earth is “wizened”, meaning shrivelled with old age; it is a barren, hostile environment
• The poet uses irony, as the island has never troubled the islanders with hay, but hay would be useful to them. It seems that the island doesn’t produce anything useful
• The speaker mentions that the earth has never “troubled” them to foreshadow the coming dangers
• This can also be interpreted as an allegory for the tensions in Northern Ireland

Lines 5-11

“ - 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.”

Translation

• There are no trees on the island, which would announce that the storm has arrived
• Trees themselves might actually feel like company in this desolate place
• They would sound like an ancient Greek chorus, which they would hear from the safety of their homes, even though the storm would be trying to destroy them
• This would be a welcome distraction
• But there are no natural barriers to stop or hinder the storm

Heaney's intention

• The poet shifts our attention to the storm that is about to attack the island
• The speaker uses a conversational tone, as if explaining things to someone sat next to him
• The storm is shown to be destructive and dangerous, but it is not personified
• This could indicate that, rather than the storm representing a specific thing or entity, it is an abstract threat
• It is violence itself that is destructive, regardless of who or what is causing it and why

Lines 12-19

“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 cat

Turned 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 we fear.”

Translation

• The narrator tells the reader that if we think living by the sea is dramatic and comforting, then we are wrong
• When the waves hit the cliffs, the sea spray attacks the windows like a wild cat spitting at them
• The inhabitants huddle together while the force of the wind blows violently and invisibly around the island
• The space the storm inhabits is like a military attack
• The narrator finishes by commenting that it is strange that we fear something that we cannot see

Heaney's intention

• The poet suggests that the storm has the power to take things that seem comfortable and familiar and turn them into a threat, such as a sea
• The wind is described as an attacking aeroplane, as it “dives and strafes”
• The poet begins to use more personification to suggest a more malicious nature to this natural force as if the attack is personal
• The space that the islanders inhabit becomes a "salvo”, meaning a sudden discharge of gunfire
• This means that the people of the island are attacked by the very air around them
• We only know of a storm when it comes up against solid things; only when it comes up against material objects do we know it is there
• The last line seems to be reflecting on the nature of a storm, commenting that it is strange that the islanders’ fear is of empty space, which is essentially the same as being afraid of nothing

Although this section is organised into three separate sections - form, structure and language - it is important to take an integrated approach to AO2, focusing on the main themes of the poem and then evaluating how Heaney’s choices of language, structure and form contribute to these themes. In essence, how and why the poet has made the choices they have, in relation to their intentions and message. 

Focusing on the poet’s main themes, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. In the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Heaney’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

The poem takes the form of one long, unbroken stanza made up of 19 lines. It is also written in blank verse, mostly in iambic pentameter, to reflect the conversational tone of the speaker, which contrasts with the dramatic events unfolding on the island. This links to one of the main themes of the poem: the power of nature and the lack of control humans have over it. However, the poem can also be seen as an allegory of the political conflict and unrest in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s onwards

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
The power of nature	The poem is one unbroken stanza of 19 lines	This could be interpreted to represent the power of nature and the unrelenting storm
	The poet uses mostly iambic pentameter	Maintains a constant rhythm, as the speaker is acting as a spokesperson for the islanders, maintaining a conversational tone
		However, the regularity of the meter can also make the poem feel tense, as though the speaker cannot fully relax knowing what is coming
	However, there are breaks in iambic pentameter, such as the line which starts with “Blast”	These breaks can convey the strength, violence and wildness of the storm
	The poem does not use a consistent rhyme scheme	This suggests that order cannot be enforced upon nature, and humans have no way to control it
Political conflict	The poem works as an allegory, a type of extended metaphor, for The Troubles in Northern Ireland	The oncoming storm works as a metaphor for the oncoming conflict and violence
	The first 8 letters of the poem’s title spells out the word “Stormont” and “island” is a homophone of “Ireland”	Stormont is the name of the building that houses the government of Northern Ireland
		The poem could be interpreted as an expression of the fear that grips a community when tensions run high and potential violence looms

Structure

Heaney uses structure and punctuation in order to emphasise the power of nature

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
The power of nature	The poet uses enjambment, such as in the line “-We just sit tight while wind dives/and strafes invisibly.-”	This could imply the constant barrage barrage of the storm
		The breathlessness from the enjambment could also represent the panicked feeling of the islanders
	There is also caesura in the poem, such as in the line “But no: when it begins,...”	This could indicate how the speaker’s conversational tone is interrupted by the power of the storm
	The poem has a cyclical structure, starting with “houses squat/good slate” and ending with “the empty air/huge nothing that we fear”	This connects the preparation for the storm at the start of the poem to the fear of the storm’s power at the end
		It also shows the resilience of the islanders, as storms come over and over, and the islands have to learn to live with them
		The cycle then is one of preparation, storm and recovery, which is never-ending, like nature

Language

Heaney’s use of language also reflects the key themes of the power of nature, and conflict, violence and war

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
The power of nature	The poet firstly personifies the earth by calling it “the wizened earth”	This emphasises the earth’s age and wisdom, and the respect it is due
	The storm is also personified when it “pummels your house too”	This makes the wind sound aggressive like it is deliberately attacking the islanders
	The speaker starts confidently with the statement “We are prepared.”	The islanders are confident in their ability to withstand nature, but this also shows that they have had to adapt to resist nature; nature always has the upper hand
	The poem’s title is blunt. There is no article “the” or “A”	This suggests Heaney is not writing about one storm in particular, but any storm, as we all must weather them
	The speaker repeatedly refers to “we”	This further emphasises the theme of community versus isolation in the situation of a natural disaster
	Heaney deliberately uses colloquialisms, such as “You might think…,” “But no:” and “You know what I mean”	This emphasises the collective nature of the poem; everyone can experience the impact of nature
	The poet also uses the simile of the cat	This implies the mistaken belief that the islanders may have tamed nature, but the cat turns against its owner, suggesting that nature cannot be tamed
Conflict and violence	The poet uses a semantic field of war, with “blows”, “blast”, “pummels”, “exploding”, “spits”, “flung”, “savage”, “dives”, “salvo” and “bombarded”	By using this language, Heaney shows that the islanders are under attack from nature
		It suggests the enormous power of nature, that it can achieve the same as an army in the conflict between nature and humankind
	In addition, Heaney uses plosives such as “-blows full//Blast:-”	This gives a sense of violence and aggression, as nature is attacking the island like bullets
	The poet uses the metaphor of the wind as an enemy fighter plane which “dives and strafes”	This further reinforces the idea of the storm deliberately attacking and bombarding the island
	The major conflict in the poem is between the storm and the islanders	However, there is also the suggestion of the metaphorical conflict between the people of Ireland and the colonial powers in Britain

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random historical facts about Seamus Heaney or the time in which the poem was written that are unrelated to the ideas in the poem. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Heaney in Storm on the Island which relate to power or conflict. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Heaney explores:

• The Power of Nature
• Conflict

The Power of Nature

• Heaney was born and raised in Northern Ireland
• He knew both the natural landscape and the political one
• He wrote mostly about the landscape and rural life of Ireland
• The island in this poem is non-specific
• The reader does not learn anything about the era the poem is set or the geographical location
• This gives the poem a mythical and universal quality - the islanders’ fear is more relatable because it isn’t tied to anything specific
• The storm could be happening at any time and in any place
• The poem can therefore be read literally as an account of humankind’s fear of nature, and the power that nature holds to destroy
• It acts as a reminder that humanity has to be prepared to survive nature
• Fear appears to be the primary force governing the lives of the island’s people
• The fear of storms dictates their lives, influencing how they build their homes and their attitudes

Conflict

• Even though it is not explicit, the political situation of Northern Ireland is a key feature of Heaney’s poetry
• Northern Ireland was, and to a certain extent still is, a country divided between those who would prefer it to be unified with the rest of Ireland, and those who are loyal to the UK
• The Troubles was a conflict over the identity and status of Northern Ireland
• Storm on the Island was published in 1966, in the early years of The Troubles
• Heaney’s poetry often used folklore and metaphor to describe the conflict
• But he is also seen as a unifying force, by emphasising the importance of community in weathering the storms
• The poet refers to “we”, referencing both a person pitted against the elements and a person pitted against political strife
• The single stanza form of the poem reflects these fundamental principles of unity and equality
• The message appears to be that, whether these forces are natural or political, people have to work together as a collective otherwise they will not survive

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about power, or conflict, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that Storm on the Island explores the ideas of the power of nature and conflict, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• Storm on the Island and Ozymandias
• Storm on the Island and The Prelude

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

Storm on the Island and Ozymandias

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Heaney’s Storm on the Island and Shelley’s Ozymandias explore the ultimate power nature has over humanity. It cannot be tamed and will outlast humanity

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems show that, despite humanity’s efforts, nature will always be more powerful
Evidence and analysis	Storm on the Island	Ozymandias
	Heaney uses enjambment and caesura to reflect the speaker being interrupted by the power of the storm	Shelley uses enjambment and caesura to reflect the broken nature of Ozymandias’s statue, and the power of the natural world which has both destroyed and outlived it
	There is a type of arrogance in Heaney’s opening statement “We are prepared”. The islanders are initially presented as mistakenly believing they have power over nature	The desert is described as boundless and bare” and “lone and level” which communicates the vast, powerful extent of nature and its ability to outlive all other forms of power
	Nature is conveyed as an overwhelming force in which humanity fights a one-sided battle against nature’s wrath	Shelley also uses the metaphor “sands stretch far away” which shows the passing of time and how time and nature can erase the power of man
	Nature cannot be tamed, just like the “tame cat” turns on its owners and spits	Ozymandias instructs his people to “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” reinforcing the idea that he believes he can threaten and overpower any other force, including nature
	Heaney connects power with isolation, as the island is isolated during and due to the storm	Shelley connects power with isolation, as the isolation of the statue shows loss of power
	In both poems, nature is presented as unrelenting and endless
	Both poems also comment on the impermanence of power, as the storm eventually goes away, and the corruption of power ultimately leads to Ozymandias’s downfall

Differences:

Topic sentence	The theme of conflict is explored differently in both poems, with Heaney commenting on political conflict as an ongoing storm, whereas Shelley explores the conflict between an individual’s desire for power and legacy and the futility of this endeavour
Evidence and analysis	Storm on the Island	Ozymandias
	Heaney’s poem can be interpreted as an allegory for The Troubles in Northern Ireland and how this political storm impacts people	Shelley suggests that individuals should not rely on pride and self-made power, as ultimately you can become forgotten and unidentifiable
	In Storm on the Island, nature is symbolised through the sea and the storm, and its power causes fear in the islanders	In Ozymandias, nature is represented by the desert and how it can wear away and destroy any lasting testament to human power over time
	Heaney uses the semantic field of war and connects the power of the storm to aggression	In Ozymandias, the military power of Ramesses II is connected to aggression
	The message related to the power of nature is different in both poems. Even though both poems suggest the ultimate power of nature, Shelley portrays nature as something that destroys humankind, whereas Heaney’s storm passes and the islanders are built of strong stuff, able to withstand the storm

Storm on the Island and The Prelude

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Heaney’s Storm on the Island and the extract from The Prelude by Wordsworth explore the power of nature and the conflict between humanity and the natural world we inhabit

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems explore mankind’s real and symbolic conflict when faced with the vast power of nature, which ultimately always wins
Evidence and analysis	Storm on the Island
	Heaney uses military metaphors of “bombarded”, “blast”, “salvo” and “strafe” which all relate to human air attacks, reminding the reader of the limited power of man-made machines when compared with all-powerful nature	Wordsworth also uses violent language, such as “struck and struck again” to reflect the darkening mood
	The power of nature is expressed as a storm, which in the end is a “huge nothing that we fear”	The mountain is used by Wordsworth as a metaphor for the full might of nature. The repetition of “huge” emphasises its overwhelming quality
	Both poems show that nature is something to be feared
	Storm on the Island suggests we fear nature because we underestimate the violence of nature and its effect on us	The Prelude shows that nature is something to be feared because we offend nature by attempting to manipulate it
	In Storm on the Island, the islanders realise their ultimate inability to control the storm, and it will always come again	In The Prelude, the speaker realises their own insignificance via their spiritual development
	Both poems illustrate how powerful nature is and that humans mean very little in comparison

Differences:

Topic sentence	The conflict with nature is shown differently in each poem, as in Storm on the Island it is physical, whereas in The Prelude it is psychological
Evidence and analysis	Storm on the Island	The Prelude
	In Heaney’s poem, the islanders are being physically attacked by the storm	In Wordsworth’s poem, nature is inciting fear and redefining their view of the world
	Heaney writes in the present tense, giving the impression that the storm is happening right now and the islanders are prepared to deal with the urgency of events	The Prelude is written as a past-tense memoir giving the impression of a seemingly idyllic “summer evening”
	This poem illustrates the power of nature in an obviously harsh way	The Prelude shows the power of nature in a more subtle and slower way
	Although there is violent and harsh language in both poems, The Prelude is more romantic and gothic, whereas Storm on the Island uses more explosive language