I must admit that I had never heard of Eavan Boland before, but I love the poem you linked to, with its slightly unusual perspective that doesn't focus on the nature myth, but on the mother-daughter relationship, on their bond as well as on the rift between innocence and experience.
She is amazing. This site has a few of her poems (although some seem to be missing the corret formatting). My favorite is "That the Science of Cartography Is Limited," although "Quarantine" gives it a run for its money. She's written, both in her poems and in essays and such, that she's seeking to drag Ireland back from the mystical, Celtic Twilightish, Shan Van Vochtish pall that the likes of Yeats put on it and write about issues important to her as a woman. Lots of her poems focus on domestic subjects, such as her family, her marriage, or her home in suburban Dublin.
"Chorography" is a marvellous word, although I will probably have fewer opportunities to use it than you. It's a bit tricky to work into everyday dialogue, I assume.
Somewhat. Although I'm sure you could try.
Couldn't you combine your two interests, though, and write on chorography in Irish female poets? It might be more striking (and thus might gain more academic brownie points) than picking so many big names from the Irish Lit canon (although I think your project does sound fascinating).
I may very well drag Boland into it (see the first poem mentioned above). I'm not actually as familiar with the current crop of female poets as I'd like to be (the other project will require a lot more primary text reading for the first time than the landscape one), so I'm not sure if they do a lot of this mapping or not. It would be something to look into, though.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-11-01 09:52 pm (UTC)She is amazing. This site has a few of her poems (although some seem to be missing the corret formatting). My favorite is "That the Science of Cartography Is Limited," although "Quarantine" gives it a run for its money. She's written, both in her poems and in essays and such, that she's seeking to drag Ireland back from the mystical, Celtic Twilightish, Shan Van Vochtish pall that the likes of Yeats put on it and write about issues important to her as a woman. Lots of her poems focus on domestic subjects, such as her family, her marriage, or her home in suburban Dublin.
"Chorography" is a marvellous word, although I will probably have fewer opportunities to use it than you. It's a bit tricky to work into everyday dialogue, I assume.
Somewhat. Although I'm sure you could try.
Couldn't you combine your two interests, though, and write on chorography in Irish female poets? It might be more striking (and thus might gain more academic brownie points) than picking so many big names from the Irish Lit canon (although I think your project does sound fascinating).
I may very well drag Boland into it (see the first poem mentioned above). I'm not actually as familiar with the current crop of female poets as I'd like to be (the other project will require a lot more primary text reading for the first time than the landscape one), so I'm not sure if they do a lot of this mapping or not. It would be something to look into, though.
Also, I'm giggling like mad at the DRD porn.
:D