3.1.2

Themes

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Safety vs Danger: Imagery

At the start of the poem, the Islanders feel safe and secure. This is ironic, given the way the storm attacks them. Heaney uses contrasting images of safety (at the beginning) and danger (towards the end) to emphasise this irony, and how powerless man is compared to nature:

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Images of safety

  • “Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate”.
  • “Wizened earth”.
  • “Never troubled us”.
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Images of danger

  • “Blows full blast”.
  • “It pummels your house too”.
  • “Exploding”.
  • “Spits like a tame cat / Turned savage”.
  • “We are bombarded”.

Violence of Nature

The poet explores ideas about the inhospitality and cruelty of nature. Man is presented as being insignificant compared to the natural world through these devices:

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Military metaphors

  • "We just sit tight while wind dives / And strafes invisibly. Space is a salvo. / We are bombarded by the empty air."
  • "Salvo", "strafe", and "bombarded" are associated with air attacks.
  • The military imagery emphasises how violent and aggressive the storm is.
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Simile

  • The use of the simile – “spits like a tame cat / Turned savage” gives the impression that the storm is wild and uncontrollable.
  • It also reminds readers that something that seems innocent can be deadly.
  • The use of enjambment (sentences flowing over the end of lines) here further highlights how the storm cannot be contained or controlled.

Jump to other topics

1Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

2London - William Blake (1757-1827)

3Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

4Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

5War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)

6My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

7The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

8Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson

9Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)

10Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)

11Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)

12The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)

13Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)

14Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)

15Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)

16Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

16.1Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

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