We are prepared: we build our houses squat, Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate' The wi

1
Storm on the Island
Second person plural narrative suggests that they
have experienced the storm before.
squat suggests thick set.
We are prepared we build our houses squat,Sink
walls in rock and roof them with good slate.The
wizened earth had never troubled usWith hay, so
as you can see, there are no stacksOr stooks
that can be lost. Nor are there treesWhich might
prove company when it blows fullBlast you know
what i mean - leaves and branchesCan raise a
chorus in a galeSo that you can listen to the
thing you fearForgetting that it pummels your
house too.
The earth is personified as knowledgeable.
Heaney talks about the feeling of comfort one can
experience from listening to harsh weather in
comfort and warmth however he also remarks on
the damage it can do
Contrasting images are used blast is associated
with explosion, chorus is associated with song.
This shows the two sides of nature.
2
Heaney gives a warning that nature has no allies.
But there are no trees, no natural shelter.You
might think that the sea is company,Exploding
comfortably down on the cliffsBut no when it
begins, the flung spray hitsThe very windows,
spits like a tame catTurned savage. We just sit
tight while wind divesAnd strafes invisibly.
Space is a salvo.We are bombarded by the empty
air.Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.
An oxymoron is used to denote the familiar sounds
which can be literally devastating.
A simile is used to describe how changeable
nature can be
The irony of the situation is noted by the poet
however the end of the poem indicates that he
respects the power of nature.