Storm on the Island

Title of Storm on the Island

Political meaning: The title refers to Stormont, the Parliament of Northern Ireland, using "island" as a homophone for Ireland. The title indicates that the poem is political, addressing the conflict in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants.

Extended metaphor: The poem employs an extended metaphor, where a storm on an island symbolises political conflict. The weather in the poem is linked to the language of war and violence.

Conflict resolution: The poem suggests that the conflict in Northern Ireland can be overcome. It encourages readers to consider that the storm is confined to an island, implying the problem is not insurmountable. The title alludes to the need for a political solution, where both sides unite. The causes of the conflict are baseless, and the two sides should seek peace. The idea of fearing nothing suggests the conflict lacks a foundation.

Protest Poem: The poem is a protest against the acceptance of conflict by the people on the island.

Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.

This wizened earth has never troubled us

Sibilance: The repetition of 's' sounds creates a sibilant effect, contributing to a sinister mood. The sinister mood mirrors the sinister nature of the political conflict between Catholics and Protestants.

Consonance: The repeated harsh sounds of 't', 's', and 'k' (consonants) suggest a harsh experience for the island.

Negative imagery: The earth is described as "wizened", which implies old age, and suggests the society in Northern Ireland is shrivelled and frail. Seamus Heaney uses this imagery to show that the political state in Northern Ireland is damaging its people, making them old and frail.

Sinking walls: The phrase "sinking” not building “walls" suggests that building identities, whether Protestant or Catholic, creates walls that diminish experiences. Building walls is a metaphor for constructing something that is, in effect, sinking. This contrast highlights that the conflict in Northern Ireland is a mistake.

Irony: There is irony in the choice of the word "wizened" because it starts with "wise" but conveys the idea of age.

So that you listen to the thing you fear

Forgetting that it pummels your house too.

Direct address: The poem uses the structural technique of direct address, telling the reader to listen to the thing they fear.

Common fear: Heaney is writing about both Protestants and Catholics, addressing both groups as "you". He is suggesting that the division between them is an illusion and that they are fundamentally the same. The common ground between them is their shared fear.

Solution: The poet suggests that if they can overcome their fear, they will be able to live in peace. Symbolically, if they stop fearing the storm, it will lose its power to destroy them.

Tit-for-tat violence: Violence committed by one side is the same as violence committed against oneself. The lines refer to tit-for-tat violence, where attacks on others ultimately destroy one's own community and way of life.

Symbol: The symbol of the house suggests that violence in Northern Ireland destroys everyone's homes and ways of life. Also symbolised the establishment which was been created to divide.

Fricatives: This created a feeling of threat and anger of the two sides and of the poet Heaney seeing them fight. This anger also stems from the sides not listening to him but “the thing” they “fear”.

You might think that the sea is company,

Exploding comfortably down on the cliffs

Personification: The speaker personifies the sea, noting "you might think that the sea is company". This is a bizarre image because the sea is huge and isolates people, the very opposite of company. This is juxtaposing the reality of islands being isolated in the sea with the perception of the Northern Irish that their conflict is all that matters. Heaney is suggesting that they are isolated and not like the rest of the world and therefore should change.

Juxtaposition: The phrase "exploding comfortably" is a juxtaposition of words that do not belong together. Suggests how wrong this is and mocks it.

Symbolism: This is symbolic because the way that Protestant and Catholic fought was through bombing places in each other's territory. There is a deliberate reference to bombing.

Unnatural: The unnatural metaphor underlines the similar unnaturally to be fine with bombs “exploding comfortable”.

Reality: The speaker argues that these explosions are going to get closer and closer to home. The poem suggests a predictive nature where this violence can only get worse and is not going to be isolated. Which turned out to be true as soon after the poem, the IRA began operating on the British Mainland.

Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear

Moral lesson: The line conveys the moral lesson that people have a huge fear, but there is actually nothing to be afraid of.

Reader reflection: The use of the word "strange" asks the reader, particularly in Northern Ireland, to pause and think about their experiences. While their experience of conflict feels normal, it may actually be bizarre.

Oxymoron: The line employs an oxymoron, linking "huge" with "nothing". This suggests that the nothing they fear has a huge hold over them, leading to terrorism and death.

Allusion: If people realise it is a fight over nothing, they would be able to stop it. The "illusion of nothing" is death itself.

Christianity: The poem could be suggesting that Christianity itself is the issue. People strongly hold Christian beliefs because they fear death without God. The belief in an afterlife and salvation makes the idea of death without God intolerable and this fiction is so strong that it allows them to attack others who they feel are different to them even though they are people who believe in the same thing, the same God, the same heaven and the same Christian morals. Furthermore the belief of being granted a pass to heaven after death drove many suicide bombers to kill.

Half-Rhyme: The “fear” and “air” are not perfect rhymes but are incomplete. This mirrors the current incomplete ending and encourages the reader to make a happy ending by recognising the “huge nothing that you fear” and making peace.

What compares to Storm on the Island?

Kamikaze: "Storm on the Island" questions the assumption that conflict is natural, protesting that people seem to accept conflict as a way of life due to historical accident. It suggests the causes of conflict are baseless and the two sides should find peace and the idea of them fearing nothing suggests that the conflict is baseless. Whereas Kamikaze shows that a culture can abandon life and glorify death. Both poems suggest that life has become meaningless and pointless to the people living on the island.

Bayonet Charge: "Storm on the Island" questions the typical justifications of war and portrays war as a crime against nature.

The Prelude: Both "Storm on the Island" and "The Prelude" celebrate the art of the poet in using extended metaphor. "Storm on the Island" uses nature as an extended metaphor to describe war and conflict. "The Prelude" is about finding personal freedom, lacks strict form and celebrates pantheism.