"Storm on the Island" is a poem by one Ireland's foremost writers, Seamus Heaney. In the poem, an unspecified narrator talks about an isolated island community. These islanders live in fear of a coming storm, and have no trees for shelter. On the surface level, the poem appears to be about nature's ultimate power over humankind. The anticipation of disaster, however, can also be interpreted as a comment on humankind's own capacity for violence, perhaps in relation to the political tensions in Northern Ireland during the 20th century (which became, soon after the poem's publication in 1966, what's now known as the Troubles).

• Read the full text of “Storm on the Island”

• “Storm on the Island” Summary

• “Storm on the Island” Themes

  • 

    Humankind vs. Nature

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-19
  • 

    Conflict and Violence

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 3-10
    • Lines 11-19

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Storm on the Island”

  • Lines 1-5

    We are prepared: ...
    ... can be lost.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-10

    Nor are there ...
    ... your house too.

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 11

    But there are ... no natural shelter.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-16

    You might think ...
    ... Turned savage.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-19

    We just sit ...
    ... that we fear

    

    

    

    

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• “Storm on the Island” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “W,” “w,” “s”
    • Line 2: “S,” “r,” “r,” “s”
    • Line 4: “s,” “s,” “s”
    • Line 5: “s”
    • Line 6: “b”
    • Line 7: “B,” “b”
    • Line 8: “C,” “c”
    • Line 9: “th,” “th,” “th,” “f”
    • Line 10: “F”
    • Line 11: “n,” “n,” “n”
    • Line 12: “th,” “th,” “th,” “c”
    • Line 13: “c,” “c”
    • Line 14: “B,” “b”
    • Line 15: “s,” “t”
    • Line 16: “T,” “s,” “W,” “s,” “t,” “w,” “w”
    • Line 17: “s,” “S,” “s”
    • Line 18: “W,” “w”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “tragic chorus”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “ou,” “ou”
    • Line 2: “i,” “a,” “i,” “o,” “i”
    • Line 3: “ea,” “e”
    • Line 4: “o,” “o,” “a”
    • Line 5: “a,” “a”
    • Line 7: “a,” “ea,” “ea,” “a”
    • Line 8: “a,” “a,” “i,” “a,” “a,” “a,” “a”
    • Line 9: “ou,” “o,” “i,” “ou”
    • Line 10: “i,” “i”
    • Line 11: “o,” “ee,” “o”
    • Line 12: “ea,” “o,” “y”
    • Line 13: “o,” “o,” “y,” “o,” “i”
    • Line 14: “o,” “i,” “i,” “i”
    • Line 15: “i,” “i,” “a”
    • Line 16: “a,” “a,” “i,” “i,” “i,” “i,” “i”
    • Line 17: “a,” “i,” “i,” “i,” “a,” “i”
    • Line 18: “e,” “a,” “a,” “e,” “y”
    • Line 19: “i,” “i,” “i,” “e,” “ea”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “prepared: we”
    • Line 4: “hay, so, as,” “see, there”
    • Line 5: “lost. Nor”
    • Line 7: “Blast: you,” “mean - leaves”
    • Line 11: “trees, no”
    • Line 14: “no: when,” “begins, the”
    • Line 15: “windows, spits”
    • Line 16: “savage. We”
    • Line 17: “invisibly. Space”
    • Line 19: “Strange, it”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “W,” “r,” “p,” “p,” “r,” “w,” “r,” “s,” “s,” “q,” “t”
    • Line 2: “S,” “n,” “k,” “s,” “n,” “r,” “c,” “k,” “n,” “r,” “s,” “t”
    • Line 3: “r,” “s,” “r,” “r,” “s”
    • Line 4: “s,” “s,” “s,” “s,” “t,” “ck,” “s”
    • Line 5: “st,” “ks,” “t,” “st,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “t,” “r,” “s”
    • Line 6: “bl,” “s,” “ll”
    • Line 7: “Bl,” “s,” “l,” “s,” “b,” “s”
    • Line 8: “C,” “s,” “c,” “c,” “h,” “s”
    • Line 9: “th,” “th,” “th,” “f,” “r”
    • Line 10: “F,” “r,” “tt,” “t,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 11: “r,” “r,” “n,” “t,” “r,” “n,” “n,” “t,” “r,” “l,” “lt,” “r”
    • Line 12: “th,” “n,” “th,” “th,” “s,” “s,” “c,” “p,” “n”
    • Line 13: “x,” “p,” “d,” “c,” “f,” “d,” “n,” “n,” “c,” “ff”
    • Line 14: “B,” “n,” “n,” “b,” “n,” “s,” “f,” “s,” “p,” “ts”
    • Line 15: “n,” “s,” “s,” “p,” “ts,” “t,” “c,” “t”
    • Line 16: “T,” “s,” “W,” “st,” “s,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “w,” “w,” “d,” “d,” “s”
    • Line 17: “n,” “st,” “s,” “n,” “s,” “l,” “S,” “c,” “s,” “s,” “l”
    • Line 18: “r,” “b,” “m,” “b,” “r,” “d,” “d,” “m,” “r”
    • Line 19: “S,” “t,” “t,” “s,” “n,” “t”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “us”
    • Line 4: “With,” “stacks”
    • Line 5: “Or,” “trees”
    • Line 6: “Which,” “full”
    • Line 7: “Blast,” “branches”
    • Line 8: “Can,” “gale”
    • Line 9: “So,” “fear”
    • Line 10: “Forgetting”
    • Line 13: “cliffs”
    • Line 14: “But,” “hits”
    • Line 15: “The,” “cat”
    • Line 16: “Turned,” “dives”
    • Line 17: “And”

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-19

  • Oxymoron

    

    

    

    

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    Where oxymoron appears in the poem:

    • Line 13: “Exploding comfortably”
    • Line 19: “huge nothing”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “This wizened earth has never troubled us / With hay”
    • Lines 5-8: “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”
    • Lines 12-16: “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.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 14-16: “when it begins, the flung spray hits / The very windows, spits like a tame cat / Turned savage.”

• “Storm on the Island” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Squat
  • Wizened
  • Stacks
  • Stooks
  • Prove Company
  • Tragic Chorus
  • Pummels
  • Strafes
  • Salvo
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “squat”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Storm on the Island”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Storm on the Island” Speaker

• “Storm on the Island” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Storm on the Island”

• More “Storm on the Island” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Poetry and the Troubles — An interesting article about the response of Irish poets to the Troubles conflict.

    • Heaney Looking Back — Heaney reflects on his life and career shortly after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

    • Heaney's Life and Poetry — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation.

    • Heaney Reads Aloud — Heaney reads some of his own poetry, including the first poem, "Digging," from the same collection as "Storm on the Island." 

    • An Animated History of Irish Conflict — This animation gives a quick summary of conflicts in Ireland over the centuries. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

    • Blackberry-Picking

    • Bogland

    • Death of a Naturalist

    • Digging

    • Exposure

    • Follower

    • Mid-Term Break

    • Out of the Bag

    • Personal Helicon

    • Punishment

    • Requiem for the Croppies

    • The Tollund Man

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