Boland

Identity in the Works of Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney Many times poetry is reflective of the author’s past as well as their personal struggles. One struggle that poets write about is of identity and the creation, as well as loss, of individual identities. Using a passage from the essay Lava Cameo by Eavan Boland, I will show how two poets use their craft to describe their struggle with identity. Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney both write poems which express an internal struggle with roles of

“Boland makes effective use of symbols and metaphors to explore personal experiences and deliver penetrating truths about society.” Boland’s poetry explores her personal experiences as a mother and a woman in the Ireland of the 70s, a period of great political instability. Rich metaphors amplify these themes and aid us, as readers, in accessing them and symbols reveal how timeless they are. This universal relevance is made clear as Boland explores topical political and social questions, which often

In “It’s a Woman’s World,” Eavan Boland argues that throughout history, women are disadvantaged and left out because they’re busy with the roles society had in place for them. Boland uses several devices to achieve this argument. To begin, Boland uses an allusion in the first stanza. She argues women’s “way of life” has barely transformed “since a/wheel first whetted a/knife.” This allusion is a reference to ancient times when the wheel was first invented. As a result, it emphasizes the enormous

Evan Boland uses sequential order to speak of the complex conception woman has faced in the “woman’s world.” Boland uses rhyme throughout the poem to emphasize the reference of what women are to society. She states, “we will never be; stargazers, fire-eaters, It’s our alibi,” and “so when the king’s head gored it’s baskets-grim harvest we were gristing bread,” she states that women are belittled in the woman’s world. They could never have a say because women are so busy with what they handle on a

large number. Eavan Boland took on the task of writing a poem about the feelings anorexia can put on someone. I believe the poem “Anorexic” by Eavan Boland represents the feeling of guilt and self deprivation through her use of literal and metaphorical meanings. First of all, this poem doesn’t have very many literal meanings, but I think the ones it has emphasizes the topic of the poem. Literal meaning is the most basic definition of a word; without any metaphors. Eavan Boland writes, “ Once by the

In “It’s a Woman’s World,” Eavan Boland uses allusion, imagery, and tone in her poem to vocalize the everyday life of a “woman’s world.” First, Boland uses allusion to refer to how women were perceived in history. “Like most historic peoples we are defined by what we forget, by what we never will be” (Lines 18-21). Women are not shown as being someone extraordinary, but by what society thinks women were supposed to be. Next, Boland uses imagery to show the same mundane routine that many women go

Eavan Boland explores her fears of betrayal and abandonment in her poem “The Pomegranate” through the myth of Persephone. The choice to use a legend rife with imagery and reoccurring symbols lends Boland’s poem a dream-like quality and adds depth to the study of her core issues. The theme of both the myth and the poem appears very bluntly in the fourth line, “Love and blackmail are the gist of it.” Boland displaces herself into the story of Ceres’ daughter Persephone, who is betrayed by Hades, the

while contemplating the universe. Utilizing various stylistic and structural techniques, Boland’s intent is to reconcile the tension between chaos and order for the purpose of ascertaining the meaning of existence. Immediately in the first stanza Boland establishes a persona who will consistently vacillate between between certainty in her understanding of the composition of the universe. The persona is at first contemplative as she thinks at “random on the universe” only to ironically contradict

During the Iran-Contra affair the public, as well as congress, were left in the dark about a deal was made with the enemy country of Iran to sell weapons to them to aid in their war with Iraq. Once sold the Profit were given to the Contras in Nicaragua. I will be arguing that advertising dollars, using the military as a source, and flak were used to skew the public’s perception of how the affair took place. When all of this began President Reagan had told Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, who also

have to go through an inevitable period of emotional and physical maturity before reaching adulthood. “The Pomegranate” intensively depicts a maturing teenage daughter and the complicated relationship she now has with her mother. In the poem, Eavan Boland uses multiple literary techniques such as allusion, various syntaxes, and symbolism to underscore the complex