Storm on the Island

Question 1

Storm on the Island
(Context)

Answer 1

Homophone

(Storm on t)he (island)

Stormont - Ireland’s parliament building

Island - Ireland

can be seen as a poem about the war between the catholics and protestants in Ireland during the 60’s

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• one long stanza
• made up of sentences

Question 3

“We are prepared: we build our houses squat”
“Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate”

Answer 3

“Squat” and “Rock” - half rhyme

shows the unpredictable but somewhat structured nature of conflict

Question 4

“This wizened earth has never troubled us”

Answer 4

the use of the word wizened shows how the earth is old and wise

however also shows how peoples way of thinking is outdated and needs to be changed

Question 5

“With hay, so, as you can see, there are no stacks”
“Or stooks, that can be lost. Nor are there trees”

Answer 5

imagery

describes the empty landscape

presents the apathetic mindset of the speaker and the community, who have nothing to lose

Question 6

“Forgetting in Pummels your house too”

Answer 6

Reference to conflict
- no matter what side of the conflict a person is on, both parties will suffer

Question 7

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

Answer 7

• in the end, war and conflict is an imaginary being that only exists because people allow it to
• the “huge nothing” shows how the conflict would stop if people stopped feeding it