How does the poet present nature in Storm

How does the poet present nature in Storm on the Island? Exposure RECAP! 1. What is the narrator exposed to? (try to find alternative readings/meanings) 2. What is the narrator’s opinion of WW 1? 3. Why does Owen end every stanza with either a short statement or a rhetorical question? (As a reader, what does it make you think about? ) HOMEWORK 1. Complete remaining poem annotation 2. Watch Mr Bruff youtube video on The Prelude

STORM ON THE ISLAND Seamus Heaney

Who is Heaney? • Born in Northern Ireland in 1939 • His father farmed 50 acres in rural County Derry. • Much of Heaney's poetry is centred on the countryside and farm life that he knew as a boy. • Therefore, strong natural images and content both positive and negative run through most of his poems

Storm on the Island 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. 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 listen to the thing you fear Forgetting that it pummels your house too. But there are no trees, no natural shelter. 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 with the empty air. Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.

Storm as a metaphor? Conflict in Ireland? Reality of fear? Storm Struggle between man and nature? Copy down this diagram and annotate as we go through the next slides! God?

Structure • The poem consists of nineteen lines of blank verse – un-rhyming lines each containing five beats or feet. This verse form (much used by Shakespeare) follows the natural patterns of spoken English, so we feel that Heaney is talking to us. • Many lines are not end stopped but run on from one to another. This is called enjambment. This could reflect the informal tone of the poem, but also the unexpectedness and unpredictability of the storm. • The poem opens confidently, explaining why the island dwellers trust in their preparations - but when the storm breaks, they can do nothing but “sit tight”. • The ending is ambiguous, open-ended and ominous.

Exploding Quotations Confident opening: simple comforting statement, inclusive pronoun suggests solidarity and community – short sentence reflects honesty We are prepared: we build our houses squat Present tense creates a sense of drama and Opening immediately sets up a conflict/rivalry between man and nature also reinforces the idea that storms happen all the time.

Onomatopoeia and personification The adjective ‘savage’ might link into the semantic field / extended metaphor of war and violence. As it’s at the beginning of the line this enacts the shock of the cat's sudden change in temperament • ‘spits like a tame cat, turned savage’ Simile: the sea is not gentle, it is uncontrollable, rough and wild, it spits angrily so that the spray hits the windows of the cliff-top house. Was it tame before the storm? Explores complex and changeable relationship between man and nature - unpredictable

‘Huge nothing’ is an oxymoron – it seems impossible. Leaves an intriguing, ambiguous ending. Reflects a feeling of quiet, sinister tension. This poem does not simply concern itself with a storm on an island but engages with the idea that however practical and rooted we may be, there are forces beyond us that are ultimately more powerful and more unknowable than we are • 'Strange, it is a huge nothing we fear. ’ irony - we are fearful of “empty air”, or a “huge nothing”. So the poem appears to question whether our fears are real or imaginary The storm is invisible, yet it causes so much fear in us. Is this a reference to God as well? God is a powerful force that can cause harm and inspire fear. Heaney was an Irish poet and theme of the power of religion is very prominent in many of his poems as is the power of nature. Could it be a reference to death?

• Annotate rest of the poem here using slides 15 -18 • Then complete written answers to slides 12, 13 and 14

How does the poet present nature in Storm on the Island? Write a WHAT, HOW, WHY paragraph to answer the title. Remember to explore the relationship between man and nature. WHAT – big idea? Nature is presented as… HOW – refer to METHODSzoom in! WHY – zoom out – poet’s purpose or message?

Making links – how do these quotes link these poems? STORM ON THE ISLAND • Strange, it is a huge nothing we fear EXPOSURE • Dawn in the east, amassing her armies • We are bombarded by the empty air • …the merciless iced east winds that knive us

Making links – how do these quotes link these poems? STORM ON THE ISLAND • you listen to the thing you fear/ Forgetting that it pummels your house too. • We just sit tight while wind dives And strafes invisibly LONDON • Mind-forged manacles • …runs in blood down palace walls

Confident opening: simple comforting statement, inclusive pronoun suggests solidarity and community 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. Nor are there trees Personification: the earth is like an old friend, saving them the bother of harvesting and the pain of lost crops. The word ‘wizened’ suggests age and also a land that is inhospitable and barren later we discover that this is a blessing Present tense creates a sense of drama and also reinforces the idea that storms happen all the time

Enjambment possibly suggesting a sharp, unexpected gust of wind and making the line ambiguous – could be a colloquial exclamation of shock Caesura sets this word apart, plosive ‘b’ echoes sound of the blast 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 listen to the thing you fear Forgetting that it pummels your house too. This chorus reminds us of a chorus in a Greek tragedy and as such reinforces the mournful atmosphere being created. A chorus also had the function of making sense of events, interpreting. The trees are personified in terms of the noise they could make, like a bad choir singing, warning of unhappy or unpleasant events. The absence of trees gives a sense of a loss of ‘company’ during the storms. This seems to be because the wind will cause the trees to make a lot of noise, which at least identifies the power of the storm. Here there is no sound, so the storm appears more eerie and unpleasant, as a result.

But there are no trees, no natural shelter. You might think that the sea is company, Exploding comfortably down on the cliffs Onomatopoeia and But no: when it begins, the flung spray hits personification The very windows, spits like a tame cat Turned savage. We just sit tight while wind dives The word ‘savage’ might link into the semantic field / extended metaphor of war and violence. As it’s at the beginning of the line this enacts the shock of the cat's sudden change in temperament Simile: the sea is not gentle, it is uncontrollable, rough and wild, it spits angrily so that the spray hits the windows of the cliff-top house. Was it tame before the storm? Explores complex and changeable relationship between man and nature

Turned savage. We just sit tight while wind dives And strafes invisibly. Space is a salvo, We are bombarded with the empty air. Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear. ‘Huge nothing’ is an oxymoron – it seems impossible. Leaves an intriguing, ambiguous ending. Reflects a feeling of quiet, sinister tension. The storm is invisible, yet it causes so much fear in us. Is this a reference to God as well? God is a powerful force that can cause harm and inspire fear. Heaney was an Irish poet and theme of the power of religion is very prominent in many of his poems as is the power of nature. Could it be a reference to death? This poem does not simply concern itself with a storm on an island but engages with the idea that however practical and rooted we may be, there are forces beyond us that are ultimately more powerful and more unknowable than we are irony - we are fearful of “empty air”, or a “huge nothing”. So the poem appears to question whether our fears are real or imaginary