Analysis of "Hurricane hits England" by Grace Nichols

A hurricane can be usually related to fear and danger, however, the author sees it as something that calms her down because it is something familiar to her. This is also evident in verse 7, with the use of the paradox “fearful and reassuring”. On the one hand is the storm dangerous and fearful, but on the other hand it is reassuring because it reminds her of her origins and it is something familiar to her. This relation with the ancestors is also visible in verse 6, in the sentence “like some dark ancestral spectre”, she is involving the ghosts of her ancestors that originally came from Africa and were then brought to the Caribbean as slaves. Furthermore also in verse 16, “of old tongues”, she is implicating the gods of the Caribbean, her ancestors and their language. She is wondering why they came to England, “in new place”, verse 18, and later realises that it is a message from the Caribbean for her.

An additional paradox, an oxymoron, is also used by the author, in verse 19, “the blinding illumination”, to emphasise the reaction that the people are having to this strong and unexpected storm. An enjambment is also used in the next verse, verse 20-21, “even as you short-circuit us”, to give it a double meaning and therefore interpretation. On the one side, the short circuit that the storm causes to the houses itself and on the other side this causing of electricity to blow which can again be related to the “blinding illumination” that is discussed before.  

Moreover verse 23 and 24, “what is the meaning of trees falling heavy as whales”, could represent the oaks that in the city of 7 oaks fall down during the storm in 1987, remaining just one oak standing. Besides, in the next verse, “their crusted roots”, could represent herself, Grace Nichols, who was uprooted from her home country, the Caribbean, to England, like a tree falling and getting uprooted.

The only stanza that is made out of only one verse, is the sixth one, this could symbolise a change in the way the author thinks. She suddenly realises the significance of the hurricane and knows that her “heart is unchained”. This is partly a rhetorical question, because on one hand she is asking it to the hurricane, but on the other hand it is a realisation, that she is finally free. It could also mean that her emotions are set free and she’s “unchained” by her nostalgia of her home country.

In the next stanza, in verse 28 and 29, “tropical Oya of the Weather, I am aligning myself to you”, she’s telling her Caribbean god, to give her the power to let her free, it is also important to notice that the god of the weather is written with a capital letter, to underline the importance of the power of gods.

There is another use of a paradox, in the last stanza, in verse 32, “ah, sweet mystery”. The word “ah” is also a sign of relief and in the following verses, she talks about “break the frozen lake in me, shaking the foundations of the very trees within me”. The “frozen lake” could represent her heart, which was with no emotions and now is getting released. It could also symbolise the spring, which comes after the winter, the frozen lake melt and the trees are reborn. It also emphasises the fact that now that the author has understood that the earth is always the same everywhere, she can start a new life in a new place, like the trees in spring she is reborn.

The last two verses, verse 35 and 36, are the most important ones, because it’s when Grace Nichols realises “that the earth is the earth is the earth.” This is the reason why the hurricane came to England from so far away, to tell her, that where ever she is, she can always feel at home.