Flashcards for Storm on the Island

The Islanders

The Islanders are the community at the center of Seamus Heaney's poem "Storm on the Island," expressed through the first-person plural "we" that the Speaker continuously uses.

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The Speaker / Narrator

The Speaker is the only human voice in the poem — a first-person narrator who speaks directly to the reader (or to a collective "we"), leading us through the islanders' struggle against a fierce Atlantic storm.

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The Storm (Personified Force)

In Seamus Heaney's poem Storm on the Island, the Storm acts as a personified, elemental foe — an intense natural force that challenges the islanders' sense of security and self-reliance.

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“There are no trees, no natural shelter.”

This line is from Seamus Heaney's poem "Storm on the Island," where the speaker—representing a collective island community through the first-person plural "we"—describes the bare, treeless terrain of their island home.

The collective island speaker (first-person plural voice)

“We are bombarded by the empty air.”

"We are bombarded by the empty air." is voiced by the collective narrative of a rural island community referred to as "we" in Seamus Heaney's poem Storm on the Island (1966, from the collection Death of a Naturalist).

Collective 'we' / island community (narrative voice)

“Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.”

This closing line is delivered by the poem's unnamed speaker — a collective voice ("we") embodying a rural coastal community — at the end of Seamus Heaney's "Storm on the Island" (1966, from Death of a Naturalist).

The collective island speaker ('we')

“It is a huge nothing that we fear.”

This closing line is delivered by the unnamed speaker in Seamus Heaney's "Storm on the Island" (1966, from the collection Death of a Naturalist).

The poem's narrator/speaker

“Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.”

This line is delivered by the unnamed island speaker in Seamus Heaney's "Storm on the Island" (1966, from Death of a Naturalist), representing a close-knit rural community through a collective "we."

The island community / collective 'we' · Storm on the Island (Death of a Naturalist, 1966)

“Space is a salvo, we are bombarded by the empty air.”

This line is from Seamus Heaney's poem "Storm on the Island," which appears in his 1966 debut collection Death of a Naturalist.

Unnamed island community speaker (dramatic monologue) · Storm on the Island

“The wind dives and strafes invisibly.”

This line is from Seamus Heaney's poem "Storm on the Island," which appears in his 1966 debut collection Death of a Naturalist.

Unnamed island speaker (collective 'we') · Storm on the Island (single poem; Death of a Naturalist, 1966)

“We are prepared: we build our houses squat”

This opening line is delivered by the collective voice of an unnamed island community, represented by the pronoun "we," in Seamus Heaney's poem Storm on the Island (1966, from the collection Death of a Naturalist).

Collective island community ('we')

Empty Air / Nothing

In Seamus Heaney's "Storm on the Island," the empty air — the complete lack of trees, hay, and crops — represents the frightening power of the unseen and the shortcomings of human preparation.

The Island

In Seamus Heaney's "Storm on the Island," the island represents the false sense of security and self-reliance we feel against nature's immense power.

The Sea

In Seamus Heaney's "Storm on the Island," the sea symbolizes nature's immense, uncontrollable power and the constant threat it poses to human settlements.

The Storm

In Seamus Heaney's poem Storm on the Island, the storm represents the powerful, unseen forces of nature that reveal how fragile human creations and beliefs can be.

Blank Verse

Heaney writes "Storm on the Island" in unrhymed iambic pentameter, giving the poem a rhythm that feels like measured, rational speech—fitting for a speaker who begins with calm practicality: "We are prepared: we build our houses squat."

Dramatic Monologue

The poem is expressed entirely through a collective 'we' — a spokesperson from the island speaking to an implied audience.

Personification

The storm is increasingly depicted as a threatening military force.

Metaphor

Heaney's central metaphor likens the wind to an attacking force: "It is a huge nothing that we fear."

Imagery

Heaney constructs the poem using rich sensory imagery that transitions from what we see and touch to what we hear.

Paradox

The poem's most striking moment comes at the end with its paradox: the storm is described as 'a huge nothing that we fear.'

Alliteration

Alliteration shapes the poem's sound and enhances its meaning at crucial moments.

Caesura

Heaney uses caesura to mimic the storm's chaotic and unpredictable force.

Irony

The poem begins with a strong sense of self-confidence — 'We are prepared' — and goes on to list all the things the islanders have done right: sturdy houses, solid roofs, and no trees to worry about.

Enjambment

Lines run continuously across line breaks throughout the poem, resisting any sense of closure: 'We are prepared: we build our houses squat / Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate.'

Motif

Absence is a recurring theme: the island lacks trees, hay, and natural shelter, and the storm itself ultimately amounts to 'nothing.'

Volta

The poem takes an emotional and argumentative turn around the line 'But no: / Wind dives and strafes invisibly.'

squat

Low and wide rather than tall, built close to the ground so that wind cannot get underneath or topple the structure.

adjective · Chapter 1

slate

A hard, flat grey rock split into thin sheets and used as roofing tiles; chosen here because it is heavy and does not blow off in high winds.

noun · Chapter 1

stacks

Large outdoor piles of harvested hay or straw, stacked and stored in the open field; the islanders have none because the land is too bare to grow hay.

noun · Chapter 1

stooks

Small bundles of cut grain stood upright and leaned together in a field to dry after harvest; absent here because the island's poor soil grows no grain crops.

noun · Chapter 1

wizened

Shrunken, dried out, and twisted with age or harsh conditions; used of trees that are so stunted by the wind that they cannot even grow properly.

adjective · Chapter 1

pummels

Strikes repeatedly and with great force, the way a fist pounds something; here the sea beats the cliffs again and again without letting up.

verb · Chapter 1

strafes

Attacks from above by sweeping low and firing repeatedly across a target, a military term for an aircraft's machine-gun run; here the wind attacks the island the same relentless way.

verb · Chapter 1

invisibly

In a way that cannot be seen; the wind carries out its assault without taking any visible form, making it impossible to locate or confront.

adverb · Chapter 1

bombarded

Subjected to a heavy, continuous attack, as if under artillery or aerial bombardment in warfare; the islanders are assaulted without pause by the storm.

verb · Chapter 1

huge nothing

A vast, formless emptiness that nonetheless has real and terrifying power; the phrase captures the paradox that the islanders' greatest threat has no physical substance to resist.

phrase · Chapter 1