Eavan Boland (Contemporary Irish Writers)

Synopsis

In This Powerful And Authoritative Study Jody Allen Randolph Provides The Fullest Account Yet Of The Work Of A Major Figure In Twentieth-century Irish Literature As Well As In Contemporary Women's Writing. Eavan Boland's Achievement In Changing The Map Of Irish Poetry Is Tracked And Analyzed From Her First Poems To The Present. The Book Traces The Evolution Of That Achievement, Guiding The Reader Through Boland's Early Attachment To Yeats, Her Growing Unease With The Absence Of Women's Writing, Her Encounter With Pioneering American Poets Like Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, And Adrienne Rich, And Her Eventual, Challenging Amendments In Poetry And Prose To Ireland's Poetic Tradition. Using Research From Private Papers The Book Also Traces A Time Of Upheaval And Change In Ireland, Exploring Boland's Connection To Mary Robinson, In A Chapter That Details The Nexus Of A Woman President And A Woman Poet In A Country That Was Resistant To Both. Finally, This Book Invites The Reader To Share A Compelling Perspective On The Growth Of A Poet Described By One Critic As Ireland's First Great Woman Poet-- Introduction -- The Poetics Of Origin. Beginnings; The Muse Mother -- The Nexus Of Influence. Claims Of Belonging; The Dour Line -- From Patria To Matria. The First Draft; In Her Own Image; Night Feed -- Out Of Myth Into History. The Journey; Outside History; The Telling Of Stories -- Changing The Past. A Time Of Violence; Object Lessons; The Lost Land -- Exiles In Our Own Country. Against Love Poetry; Domestic Violence; Journeys And Maps. Jody Allen Randolph. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.