Seamus Heaney’s “Storm on the Island”
The Daily Poem

Seamus Heaney’s “Storm on the Island”

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 9, 20263 min
  • One speaker
  • Arts & culture

Today’s poem weathers the unfriendliness of the natural world. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 9 of 12 · 0:49

the approach of a storm. This one is quite sad. It opens on isolation, on loneliness

, ,

and then really, I think, ending up cosmically.

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • C10:49
  • C10:56
  • C11:18
  • C11:37
  • C12:10
  • C12:23
  • C12:48
  • B23:11

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 35%A2 38%B1 11%B2 16%C1 0%
  • 84% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 143 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 22 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Friday, October 9th, 2026. Today's poem is by Seamus Haney. It's called Storm on the Island.

0:19

If you are a subscriber and listen to yesterday's episode, I mentioned that here in northwest Florida we are preparing for landfall today of a category two or three hurricane and so storms have been on my mind lately. Unlike Dunbar's yesterday that sort of revels in the approach of a storm. This one is quite sad. It opens on isolation, on loneliness

0:49

and the contemplation of those themes continues throughout the poem, starting first locally, and then really, I think, ending up cosmically. The speaker looks around and finds no comfort in nature, and I think it is at least possible to read the final line of the poem then as him also finding no comfort in super nature.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (2 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy