Study Clicks Podcast on Eavan Boland's Poetry

Introduction

• Host: Laura Daly, an English teacher from Dublin.
• Focus: Exam-centric podcast on Eavan Boland's poetry for the Leaving Certificate.
• Approach: Condensation of poems into bite-sized summaries, focusing on:
  • Themes
  • Key images
  • Language stylistic features
  • Tone

Eavan Boland - Background

• Born in 1944, Dublin; educated at Trinity College.
• Influenced by Irish poets (Brendan Kennelly, Michael Longley, Derek Mahon).
• Writes about personal reality, feminism, love, marginalization, mythology.
• Notable quote: "Poetry begins where language starts in the shadows and accidents of one person's life."

Common Themes in Boland’s Poetry

• Feminism
• Love and marriage
• Marginalization and voicelessness
• Political and suburban life
• Elevation of the ordinary and domestic
• Mythology

Poems Discussed

1. Child of Our Time

• Theme: Political poem responding to violence (Dublin and Monaghan bombings).
• Structure: Lullaby form, contrasts (cry/tune, unreasoned/reason).
• Imagery: Childhood, violence, societal discord.
• Tone: Angry, sorrowful, resolute.

2. The War Horse

• Theme: Allegory of war and suburban domesticity.
• Structure: Rhyming couplets, immediacy with enjambment.
• Imagery: Horse as war metaphor, flowers as casualties.
• Tone: Threatening, accusatory, pessimistic.

3. The Famine Road

• Theme: Inhumanity, voicelessness during the Irish Famine.
• Structure: Dual narratives (Famine and infertility).
• Imagery: Famine roads, cannibalism, typhoid pariah.
• Tone: Dismissive, condescending, stark.

4. Love

• Theme: Different stages of marriage.
• Imagery: Aeneas myth, early passion, failed communication.
• Tone: Nostalgic, regretful, yearning.

5. The Pomegranate

• Theme: Mother-daughter relationships, coming of age.
• Imagery: Pomegranate, myth of Persephone, transitional stages.
• Tone: Desperation, love, resignation.

6. This Moment

• Theme: Celebration of the ordinary.
• Imagery: Neighborhood, stars, moths, apples.
• Tone: Celebratory, meditative.

7. Outside History

• Theme: Marginalization, feminist perspective.
• Imagery: Stars, landscape of humanity.
• Tone: Resigned, assertive, pessimistic.

8. The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me

• Theme: Love, parent relationships.
• Imagery: Fan, pre-war Paris, storm.
• Tone: Passionate, tentative, uncertain.

9. The Shadow Doll

• Theme: Marriage, artifice vs. reality.
• Imagery: Shadow doll, wedding preparation.
• Tone: Oppressive, disconcerting.

10. White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland

• Theme: Journey, mythology and superstition.
• Imagery: Hawthorn, suburban escape.
• Tone: Discontent, reticent, ominous.

Conclusion

• Use at least four poems in detail for essays.
• Quote extensively.
• Check out Study Clicks for additional resources and sample answers.