"Storm On The Island"

 

ANALYSIS

 

 

We are going to analyse a poem by Seamus Heaney (1939,-) called “Storm on the Island”. It was published in 1966 in the book “Death of a Naturalist. The poem deals with islands inhabitants' feelings that are victims of storms and natural disasters.


 

The poem is composed in one stanza of nineteen verses. They have no rhyme, so, we can say it has blank rhyme. However, verses have rhythm: the poem is written in iambic pentameter. So, the line structure would be: sink – WALLS – in – ROCK – and – ROOF – them – WITH – good – SLATE (unstressed-stressed-unstressed-stressed, etc.)


 

The title of the poem is clear and direct, “Storm on the Island”. The poet is going to talk about a natural effect. The poem starts with an affirmation: “We are prepared”. With this statement, the poet gets involved in the plot: he says “we”, which means that he and some more people are prepared for the coming of a storm. It continues: “…we build our houses squat, / Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.” Here, he describes how their houses are made in order to avoid being destroyed in storms and other aggressive weathers. It implies that the island dwellers are wont to suffer storms. “The wizened earth has never troubled us / With hay, so, as you can see, there are no stacks / Or stooks that can be lost…” in these lines, the poet finds a positive view of a really negative one: the soil’s aridity. If they cannot cultivate, the storm cannot damage the cultivation. “…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”. Moreover, there are no trees. This is a negative thing for the poet, because when the blast blows, the leaves and branches of the trees make noise and people don’t hear the sound of the wind pummelling their houses. “But there are no trees, no natural shelter. / You might think that the sea is company, / Exploding comfortably on the cliffs”. As the poet said before, there are neither trees nor cultivation; there is not any natural protection as well. Therefore, people could think the sea is a nice and relaxing company in those fearful moments. “But no: when it begins, the flung spray hits / The very windows; spits like a tame cat / Turned savage…” However, sea is not a relaxing company but a potential menace, like a cat, calmed sea could turn easily agitated. “… We just sit tight while wind dives / And strafes invisibly.” All they can do is to wait. Men are vulnerable, they cannot do anything to combat the storm, but wait. Hearing the wind hitting, they cannot see it, because it is invisible. Moreover, there are no trees, so they cannot see the wind moving the trees. “Space is salvo. / We are bombarded by the empty air. Strange is a huge nothing that we fear.” As we said, the dwellers cannot see anything; however, it seems like a bombard an invisible bombard. The poet thinks this is strange because it is difficult to imagine how something invisible, without shape or matter can create such a disaster.


 

In this poem, Heaney tries to sensitize us about the feelings of the islands inhabitants when they suffer a natural disaster. Heaney talks in the first person of plural. He uses this to make the story more credible, more personal: “We are prepared: we build our houses…” “…has never troubled us…” “We just sit tight…” “We are bombarded…”, etc. Moreover, he involves the reader in the poem, as he were in a conversation with the poet: “…as you can see…” “You know what I mean…” “You might think…” Like this the reader becomes awareness of how they could feel, it becomes a more personal feeling, because you imagine yourself on the island.

The poet’s feelings about the storm change along the poem. First, he is relaxed. He says they are prepared. Houses are ready to resist the storm: they are squat, the walls are sunk in rock and the roof is made with good slate; the fields will not suffer anything, etc. However, after that, the poet starts giving negative feelings:the word “fear” appears, they are frightened, the wind makes a “tragic chorus”, and “pummels your house”. “There is no natural shelter”, sea is also a danger. They cannot do anything; the nature is too powerful for them. They just can wait. To produce this effect on the reader, Heaney uses aggressive vocabulary: “exploding”, “flung”, “hits”, “spits”, “strafes”, “salvo”, “savage”, “bombarded”, etc. This change in the poet’s feelings could mean that, in spite of being prepared and save, we cannot avoid having fear. The power of nature can be really frightening. If you are on a little island you would be confined and isolated, at the mercy of the storm.

The imagery used in this poem is diverse. We can observe irony when talking about the fields and the trees: he says it is positive to have a wizened earth, because they cannot lose their crop. There is also a comparison: The Sea is like a tame cat that turned savage. It is calm and gentle, but the storm converts it into an aggressive element. Finally there is a metaphor: “the wind dives and strafes… Space is salvo. / We are bombarded” The wind seems a bombardier.

Finally, just to say that Heaney has done poetry without using rhyme or stanzas, but using diverse imagery, rich vocabulary, verse rhythm, etc. All this in a simple way: easy grammar and written as a conversation, which permits a better understanding.

 

Óscar Fernández Adriá
 

 

 

 

 

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Academic year 2005-06
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Óscar Fernández Adrià
Universitat de València Press
osfera@alumni.uv.es