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.