How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
We are prepared: we build our houses squat, (1)
This preparation might come across as confidence, but they are preparing for something—and quite possibly something worth fearing.
Quote #2
Blast: you know what I mean—leaves and branches
Can raise a tragic chorus in a gale (7-8)
The wind sounds like ghosts howling; that's pretty scary. This storm is nothing to mess with. Heaney's playing with personification here. The storm seems even more frightening when it's animated by human characteristics.
Quote #3
So that you listen to the thing you fear
Forgetting that it pommels your house too. (9-10)
They're admitting to fearing the fierce wind, especially as it assaults their homes. If this were The Three Little Pigs, the wind would be the Big Bad Wolf. Here the fear isn't necessarily specific to the poem, either. If you look closely at line 9 on its own, Heaney is dragging readers in, too, for an opportunity to examine our deepest, darkest fears. Um, thanks, we guess?