Comparing Storm on the island and The Prelude

Would it be possible for someone to have a look at my essay and give it a mark out of 30? Be as harsh as possible so I know exactly where I went wrong. Thank you

Q: Compare how poets present the power of the natural world in Storm On the Island and in one other poem from Power and Conflict. [30 marks]

A: Both Storm On the Island and The Prelude describe the natural world to evoke a powerful scene, but these descriptions can also be interpreted symbolically to represent conflict. In Heaney’s poem, we see the destructive power of nature over the island’s community as it “spits like a tame cat turned savage”, with this portrayal going against traditional ideas of nature as beautiful and idyllic; alternatively, taking the poem in a more allegorical reading, the storm could symbolise the conflict of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, or it could even be a reflection on Heaney’s newly formed relationship with his wife Marie, with both these ideas supported by contextual factors, and both argued later. By contrast, Wordsworth’s autobiographical account of his stealing the boat provides a more nuanced portrait of nature: at first it is presented as sublime, indeed mythical in its beauty; but after the volta in line 21, we see nature as an indomitable force, a “trouble” to the young speaker’s dreams. As in Storm On the Island, however, nature can be interpreted symbolically: perhaps the ambivalent presentation of nature represents the dual power of the boy’s imagination (to amaze and to frighten); or in a more psychoanalytic reading, perhaps the boy’s theft of the boat constitutes a violation of the maternal lake (and thus Nature) in which he dipped his oars “lustily”, with this evoking the paternal presence of the “black and huge” cliffs as punishment for the boy’s sexual trangression. In any case, nature is of great power in both poems.

Both Heaney and Wordsworth have carefully structured their poems to express ideas about the power of the natural world. The poems are both written in blank verse, but to a different effect. Whereas in Storm On the Island the metre seems to give the poem an almost conversational tone (“you know what I mean”), perhaps reflecting the speaker’s sense of reassurance that the storm will not destroy him or his community (as they are “prepared”), in The Prelude it seems to dramatise the experience of the speaker (like a Shakespearean monologue), which could highlight his insignificance in comparison to nature, or alternatively the sublime power of nature. The latter interpretation is reinforced by the dominant technique of enjambment, which mirrors the free flowing of the speaker’s thoughts; perhaps this fluidity of thought captures the power that nature has over the imagination, as it were liberating it, suggesting that Wordsworth’s encounter with nature here will prove vital in his Romantic development throughout his autobiographical poem. Heaney’s poem, too, is heavily enjambed, though here the enjambment seems not to reflect liberation, but rather vulnerability, of being exposed: the lines are exposed to the whiteness of the page, even as the community is exposed to the natural elements. That the poem is written in one lang stanza seems to echo this, almost recalling the huddling together of a community in their “squat” houses, as they wait for the storm. In this way, Wordsworth’s poem seems to be structured to present nature’s power in a more positive light, whilst Heaney’s is structured to reflect the natural world as more destructive.

However, in the opening of his poem, it is made clear to us that despite the wind’s “div[ing]”, the speaker and his community are “prepared” for the storm, diminishing the sense of vulnerability the structure seems to suggest. By beginning with the collective pronoun “we”, the speaker immediately establishes a sense of togetherness, and the consonance of the second line (“Sink walls in rock and roof them with good slate”) reinforces this idea of a community with strong foundations, used to nature’s batterings. Taking the poem more symbolically, however, the strong foundations could refer instead to Heaney’s marriage with his wife, Marie. The poem was published in 1966, the first year of their marriage; moreover, the anthology in which Storm On the Island was published (Death of a Naturalist) contains several explicit poems about their relationship, such as Scaffolding and Honeymoon Flight. In this reading, “we” refers to Heaney and his wife, the “rock” and “slate” represent their strong connection, and the storm becomes an extended metaphor for the challenges of marriage. In both the literal interpretation and the more symbolic one, there is an overtone of hope, which differs from the more ambivalent tone established in the opening of The Prelude (extract). The boy, who, unlike the speaker in Storm On the Island, is alone, is “led by her” to a boat “tied to a willow tree”. In the personification of nature as a female who “led” the speaker, we see an element of temptation, of seduction, but he is aware that in “unloosen[ing]” the chains of the boat, he is committing an act of “stealth/And troubled pleasure”. This oxymoronic language highlights the speaker’s ambivalence, contrasted with the confident tone of Heaney’s speaker: he is aware of his transgression, but takes pleasure from it. Perhaps this can be taken symbolically (as with Storm On the Island), with the ambivalence of the boy reflecting the dual power of nature: it can impress but also seduce. Thus, the speaker in Heaney’s poem seems to be prepared for the storm (or whatever it might symbolise), whilst in Wordsworth’s autobiographical extract, the speaker is easily tempted by nature, perhaps suggesting it is the boy’s first true encounter with nature.

That the speaker in The Prelude is committing an act of transgression is made clear by the almost sexual language he uses in describing the boat. The boat was, as he says, an “elfin pinnace”, whose oars he dipped “lustily” into the lake. While “lustily” may be interpreted to mean “full of energy”, it also suggests an element of sexual excitement, and the both the homophone of “pinnace” and the sexual wordplay of “rose upon the stroke” reinforce this idea. It is therefore clear that the speaker no longer is no longer unsure: his “troubled pleasure” has translated to a sense of lust. Perhaps this reflects the speaker’s naive sense of pride, his arrogance; alternatively, it could reflect the almost arousing effect of nature, that it is so powerful as not only to tempt but also to stir to action. In contrast, in Heaney’s poem, any positive influence of nature is absent, for there are no “stacks” or “stooks”, nor are there “trees”, perhaps a sign that the community is located in an urban area. Instead, nature is destructive: it “pummels” your house, it “explod[es]” comfortably, it “dives” and “strafes” invisibly. This lexical field of violence is so strong that we are almost invited to consider it symbolically. Given the wordplay of the poem (Stormont and Island/Ireland), we are perhaps to interpret nature as representing the Troubles. In personifying nature as a “tame cat turned savage”, Heaney is possibly suggesting that the conflict constitutes a regression of civilisation, so that nature itself has almost become unnatural.

This very idea of nature becoming unnatural is suggested in The Prelude, too. In the volta in line 21, there is a dramatic shift in tone as the speaker sees a “huge peak, black and huge”, with its head “upreared”, stride after him like a “living thing”. The foreboding language used here suggests an element of retribution, as if Nature is punishing the boy for his transgression. Indeed, there is almost something phallic in the description of the cliff as a “huge peak” having its head “upreared”, “growing still in stature”; this is perhaps Nature’s way of disapproving of his sexual transgression, as it turns from the maternal “lake” to the paternal “cliff”. Alternatively, the rather vague description of the mountain peak as “black and huge”, as “tower[ing]”, might suggest that the peak is merely an externalisation of the boy’s guilt, with this interpretation favouring the power of the imagination over the power of nature. Heaney’s speaker likewise seems to suggest that the power of nature is not in fact as great as one might think, saying in the ending of the poem that “it is a huge nothing that we fear”. The oxymoron of “huge nothing” suggests that the islanders are afraid of the “thing that [they] fear” for no reason; symbolically, the “huge nothing” could imply that the religious identities responsible for the Troubles are not important at all, or it could imply that nohing, natural or otherwise, can threaten the strength of his relationship with his wife. However, there is also the possibility that the “huge nothing”, while it is physically nothing, is in fact psychologically “huge”, perhaps so that the community will become “nothing”, or that his relationship with his wife will suffer.

Similarly, the ending of The Prelude reveals an ambiguous picture of nature’s power. We learn that speaker could not imagine “trees” or the “sea or the sky”, with “huge and mighty forms” instead moving “slowly” through his mind. The “huge and mighty forms” could perhaps symbolise his guilt, his inner conscience, as he no longer thinks of anything positive. Alternatively, that his brain “worked with a dim and undetermined sense of unknown modes of being” does foreshadow a potential enlightenment, either sexual or imaginative; in this way, like in Heaney’s poem, the ending is not so bleak as one might think.

In conclusion we see in both Heaney’s poem and Wordsworth’s extract the duality of nature. In Heaney’s it is destructive but its impacts can be dealt with, so that it is a “huge nothing”, whereas in The Prelude it is tempting, sublime, seductive and enlightening, but also highly dangerous, even God-like in its power.