Comparing Poetic Techniques: Exposure and Storm on the Island
Exposure vs. Storm on the Island: Poetic Analysis
3. Exposure – “The merciless iced east winds that knive us…”
- Personification (Verb “Knive”): The verb “knive” anthropomorphizes the wind as a violent attacker, aligning nature with the enemy and suggesting that the soldiers are under constant assault. This mirrors the aggressive, militaristic imagery in Storm on the Island, where nature also becomes a relentless attacker through words like “bombarded.”
- Adjective (“Merciless”): The adjective conveys the relentless, unforgiving nature of the weather, mirroring the soldiers’ suffering and the absence of divine intervention. This contrasts with the more ambiguous, almost indifferent tone in Storm on the Island, where nature’s power is acknowledged but not explicitly personified as malicious.
- Sibilance (“iced east winds”): The hissing “s” sound creates a sinister, biting effect, mimicking the piercing cold and emphasizing the physical and emotional brutality of the setting. This sibilance contrasts with the harsher, plosive sounds in Storm on the Island, such as “blast” and “bombarded,” which convey more immediate, explosive force.
4. Storm on the Island – “We are bombarded by the empty air”
- Verb (“Bombarded”): The verb, typically associated with military attacks, transforms the natural storm into a calculated, violent assault, suggesting that nature is as hostile as human conflict. This mirrors Exposure, where the “iced east winds” are also portrayed as active aggressors against the vulnerable soldiers.
- Adjective (“Empty”): The adjective emphasizes the paradox of being attacked by nothing tangible, creating a sense of futility and helplessness against an invisible, unstoppable force. This contrasts with Exposure, where the enemy is tangible – the cold – and its impact is physically felt as “knives.”
- Metaphor (“Bombarded”): The military metaphor aligns nature’s fury with warfare, blurring the line between human and natural conflict. This is a direct link to Exposure, where the elements are similarly personified as an army, attacking the soldiers with relentless force.
Structural Devices in Exposure:
- Ellipsis and Caesura: Pauses and silences are strategically placed, creating a fragmented, disjointed structure that mimics the soldiers’ disoriented state. Effect: The caesura mirrors the sudden, jarring nature of conflict, leaving the reader in a state of suspended anticipation.
Structural Devices in Storm on the Island:
- Single, Continuous Stanza: The unbroken structure conveys the unrelenting power of the storm, mirroring the islanders’ isolation and the inescapable force of nature.
Comparison – Structure:
Exposure uses fragmented structure and dissonant rhyme to convey the psychological disintegration of soldiers, while Storm on the Island employs a single, unyielding stanza to reflect nature’s overwhelming power. Both poems use structural repetition – Exposure’s refrain conveys the endless waiting, whereas Storm on the Island’s enjambment mirrors the relentless storm.