The Great Storm by Jo Shapcott: Analysis

The poem is about the Great Storm of 1987

and the damage and chaos it created on her home which was turned from comfort into a nightmare.

In the last stanza, Jo Shapcott

compares her life to the storm which gives a strong indication of how chaotic her own life is.

In the first stanza, Jo Shapcott describes everything as being chaotic,

'Through the window everything was horizontal' which demonstrates the power of the storm.

The idea of the landscape being horizontal is repeated in the last stanza,

'wanted to be horizontal as the tree tops' where she shows how strong the wind was and how she wanted to be different.

Shapcott describes how she loves the rush and darkness of the storm in a metaphor,

'singing the rush, into the dark.'

She describes the storm would create fear and adrenaline with the verb 'singing'

which is unusual as it is usually related to being calm and relaxing.

She creates a great deal of imagery

to make the storm appear intense.

The use of onomatopoeia, 'roar'

presents the overpowering and dangerous nature of the storm.

The use of personification, 'a branch broke in'

suggests that the storm is threatening, almost like a criminal.

The rest of the world seems vulnerable and insignificant

with the simile, 'small trees scattered like matchsticks'.

The storm can be seen as a metaphor for the disruption and chaos in her life,

'my beloveds peeling off the earth' which seems more general than a description of this event.

The first half of this poem is a detailed description

of what the speaker of the poem saw, heard and felt during the storm.

The second half of the poem, the speaker compares her life to the storm

as the storm which has been described literally has now become a metaphor for her life.

The Great storm is a two stanza poem about

the Great Storm of 1987 in the UK.

The overall meaning of the poem is to show the consequence of

being too involved in the excitement of events at other people's expense.

There are two moods to the poem

of sudden excitement to despair.