Speaker
The identity of this poem's speaker is ambiguous. They tend to use the pronoun "we," using "I" only one time, so that it is not entirely clear whether the speaker should be understood as the island's residents speaking collectively, or a single person speaking on behalf of their community. Regardless, the use of the first-person plural has the effect of making the islanders seem like a unified, indivisible group, able to face down the storm collectively. The speaker (or, possibly, speakers) are evidently proud of their island community, and they appear humble and tough, thanks to their blunt sentences and short, simple vocabulary. However, their thoughtful musings in the final line of the poem show that they have a more contemplative side as well—though it may be restrained out of necessity, since conditions on the island offer few opportunities to engage in the luxury of contemplation. If the poem is read as an allegory for conflict in Ireland, with the island standing in for Ireland, then the speaker represents the Irish people.
The Storm
It may seem strange to describe the storm as a character, and as a matter of fact, during the first half of the poem, it is decidedly not a character at all. In these ten first lines, Heaney avoids personifying the storm, emphasizing its chaotic, mindless qualities. It is only in the second half of the poem that he imbues it with human or at least animal traits. To do so, Heaney uses figurative language comparing the storm to, at various points, an animal or an invading army. Heaney also uses line breaks and punctuation in ways that subtly imply the storm's conscious deliberation. Whether we read the storm as a symbol for British rule in Ireland, or literally as a threatening natural disaster, it increasingly comes to seem as if it has a will of its own throughout the poem.
