Storm on the Island

Storm on the Island

1. "this wizened earth has never troubled us"

   • "wizened" means old and shrivelled
     • indicates how weather has battered and beaten the earth over time

2. weather symbolic of artilllery

   • "pummels"
   • "strafes"
     • creates semantic field of destruction and torment
   • "bombarded"

3. "exploding comfortably down on the cliffs"

   • oxymoron
   • sea is vicious but controlled
     • not threatening

4. "spits like a tame cat - turned savage."

   • simile
     • out of control, contradicts the oxymoron
   • enjambment expresses a sudden shock in behaviour of sea

5. "we sit tight while wind dives and strafes"

   • nature is superior to man, it must sit and watch helplessly
     • "a huge nothing"
       • Heany uses a paradox
         • nothing has no size
   • S and F sounds create hissing of wind