George Thomas 11WP

Unit ‘Other Cultures’ Poetry

Compare and contrast Heaney’s ‘Storm on the Island’ and Hughes’ ‘Wind’.How do these poets recreate the violence of a storm?

Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney are seen as quite similar poets for they both share an interest in nature. This is shown in the poems ‘Wind’ by Ted Hughes and ‘Storm on the Island’ by Seamus Heaney. Hughes’ writing shows characteristics of Romanticism through his celebratory attitude towards nature. But the Romantic Period was 150 years before the poems were published.

The poems ‘Wind’ and ‘Storm on the Island’ can both be compared as they share the theme of nature. The poets use a variety of techniques that create the ferocity of a storm.

‘Storm on the Island’ by Seamus Heaney was published in 1966 in a book called ‘Death of a Naturalist.’ In this poem Heaney recreates the violence of the storm by using a variety of subtle techniques. The poem has no stanzas so it gives a sense that the storm is encased in the writing. At the beginning of the poem Heaney uses caesura; “We are prepared: we build our houses squat,” this line makes it sound as if the person is ready for battle or war, the effect of this gives the reader a first impression that the poem’s going to be violent or aggressive.

An example of the language Heaney uses could be the lexical set he uses that becomes obvious at the beginning of the poem when he says, “sink walls in rack and roof them with good slate, this wizened Earth has never troubled us.” This suggests the house is strong enough to endure the storm. Heaney also creates an image of the wind conducting the elements of the Earth, “Leaves and branches can raise a tragic chorus in a gale.” This gives the effect that the wind power can control nature.

Nearing the end of the poem Heaney uses many aggressive verbs and adjectives to create an attacking tone, with this comes a lexical set of danger and battle. Apparent when Heaney uses the words, “bombarded,” “pummels,” “fear,” and “exploding.” These words generate a lexical set of war or fighting which creates a mood and tone of aggression. Heaney also uses simile to make the storm appear more ruthless. This becomes clear when he writes, “spits like a tame cat turned savage,” this creates an effect of fear because the audience reading this would think of a domestic cat that suddenly turns savage, which gives the sense of the unpredictability of nature.

In Hughes’ ‘Wind’ the poet also expresses the full force of the wind and real cruelty that it is capable of. Also the storm in ‘Wind’ has been described as being like an argument, perhaps between Hughes and his wife Sylvia Plath. Most of Hughes’ poetic work is based on or around nature and instinct. His writing also shows characteristics of Romanticism as the way he describes the wind shows a celebratory attitude towards nature.

Ted Hughes uses six, four line stanzas as if to cage and tame the wind. By doing this he may also be trying to control his fear of untamed nature. Compared to Heaneys’, the storm seems more controlled because Heaney hasn’t put the storm into a rigid structure. Hughes also uses enjambment which is the lack of punctuation; this usually gives an effect of danger or preparing and climaxing to a point. This reflects the strength and ferocity of the wind as it can’t be contained as the speed of the poem is quickening and there is no time to take a pause, he uses this when he writes, “The wind stampeding the fields under the window floundering black astride and blinding and blinding wet till day rose;” This gives us the effect that animals are stampeding, turning the wind into a fierce beast. Like Heaneys’ poem, Hughes uses a powerful lexical set by choosing vicious words which one are also onomatopoeic, such

George Thomas 11WP

as “crashing”, “stampeding,” “booming,” and “floundering.” The effect of this is making the wind crescendo into a violent state which to an audience may never calm down. Ted Hughes also uses alliteration to show the industrial strength of the wind; “Black Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly,” this shows the wind is so strong it’s just bending and flinging the creature around.

During the second stanza Hughes makes out that the wind is controlling nature and the environment, “The hills had new places.” This gives the effect that the wind is really strong and can move mountains. Also Heaney makes a statement about the storm conducting leaves and branches. So the two poets both show enthusiasm for the strength of the tempest and malevolent consequences they create. In the poem ‘Wind’, Hughes also creates an aggressive tone that carries on throughout the poem. It becomes obvious when he uses powerful verbs and onomatopoeia like “The woods crashing through darkness the booming hills.” Also Heaney uses the same sort of tone which contains violence and aggression when he uses the lexical set “bombarded,” “pummels,” “fear” and “exploding.” Both poets also use caesura; in Hughes’ case he uses it to lull the reader into a sense of security but then the storm starts returning breaking the mirage. “Till day rose; then under an orange sky.” In Heaney’s poem he writes “We are prepared: we build our houses squat,” so the poets both show that they’re preparing, or pausing for the full climax of the storm. One might say the poets are very alike in how they recreate a storm. They both use language and structure to create forceful, aggressive tones, which gives us an atmosphere of danger whilst reading. They can both paint images in ones’ head of a raging beast or stampeding armies marching into battle.

In conclusion, the poems ‘Storm on the Island’ and ‘Wind’ by Heaney and Hughes share a host of similarities, one being that they both describe and recreate the violence of a tempest. They do this by using lots of similar techniques, such as the structures they use, for example the lack of punctuation; creating enjambment. But there is a difference because Heaney’s storm may seem more dangerous as it’s not put into any structure, like it can’t be caged. Also they both use language to recreate the violence, like when Heaney writes “spits like a tame cat turned savage,” and when Hughes writes “back gull bent like an iron bar.” Both poets use simile to exaggerate the actual effects of the storm. So it is obvious, that both poets recreate the power of a storm.